Kate Winchester: Part Three
by Winchestergirl67
Summary: Sequel to Kate Winchester: Part Two. Sam and Dean continue to hunt with their little sister, Kate.
1. Chapter 1

_Dean - 30, Sam - 26, Kate - 24._

Sam rolled over in bed, frowning to himself as he heard what sounded like someone jumping around the motel room. He though back to the previous night, contemplating whether or not he could be hungover. Lifting his head from the pillow, he opened his eyes to see his brother hopping around with one leg stuck in the pair of jeans he was attempting to pull further up his thigh. He stared at him for a couple of minutes in astonishment, unsure of how to react. "Dean." He said after a minute. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I can't-" Dean glanced up at him and frowned. "How fat have I gotten?"

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Dude, those are your sister's jeans." He said flatly.

"They're-" He stopped and looked down for a second before facing Sam. "Oh. Well, since when did she start wearing jeans that looked so much like mine?" He argued, smirking to himself. "She obviously admires my style."

Sam shook his head at his brother and dropped back down in his bed, pulling the covers over his head. "You're obviously an idiot."

Dean laughed. "C'mon Sammy. Get your ass out of bed."

"Why?"

"Because, we're gonna go pick up some coffee while our sister puts on her ridiculously skinny jeans-" Sam looked over at him again just as Dean pulled them from his leg and threw them across the room, pulling on some of his own.

"Right."

"I'll go check us out of the room while you get her up, and tell her if she's not ready by the time we're back then-" He stopped to think of a threat. "Just tell her I'll shave off her eyebrows or something." Sam rolled his eyes at him and nodded as he climbed out of bed and made his way to the bathroom.

Kate blinked open her green eyes, yawning as she sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "I see you're awake then?" Sam smirked as he walked into the room from the bathroom.

"Good thing we've always got you around to point out the obvious." She muttered.

"Yeah well, it's a gift." He said sarcastically, grinning at her. "Nice hair."

She groaned and made a lame attempt to flatten it before dropping back down on the bed. "Where's Dean?"

"He's in the car, we're gonna go grab some coffee and then we're hitting the road. So he told me to tell you that if you're not ready by the time he gets back, he'll shave off your eyebrows while you're sleeping."

"Oh really?"

Sam shrugged. "Just passing on the message."

"Well, you ask him who's going to look less stupid when we both have to draw them on."

Sam laughed and pulled open the motel door, walking outside to the Impala. He and Dean went to the nearest diner to pick up some coffee before heading back to the motel room. Dean climbed out of the car first and crossed the parking lot to their room, closely followed by Sam. He went to open the door but found it locked and banged on it with his fist. They waited a couple of minutes before Dean knocked again. "What the hell is she doing in there?"

"I dunno Dean, I can't see through doors." Sam muttered. "She was awake when I left."

"Kate!" Dean shouted. "Get your lazy ass out of bed right now!" He pounded on the door with the side of his fist before giving it another slam with his hand. He turned to Sam who simply raised his eyebrows in amusement and took another drink of his coffee. "I swear, if she's gone back to sleep I will kick this door down and kill her with my bare hands."

Kate came to the door a few minutes later, smiling innocently as she looked between them. "Cold out Dean?" She asked him with mock curiosity.

Sam snorted, covering a laugh, which only made Dean frown harder. "You were sat in there listening to me yell at you, weren't you?"

Kate shrugged. "Would I?"

"Yes. Because you're an evil child."

She smirked at him. "Says the guy who just yesterday, went through his own little sister's bag and stole her candy."

"I told you already, that wasn't me."

"Of course it was you, I watched you stuff the bag into your jacket when I walked in. How stupid do you think I am?"

Dean tilted his head to the side. "Do you want an honest answer to that?"

"Oh, real mature Dean."

"Well fine, maybe it was me but.. those sweets are bad for your teeth. And as your big brother, it's my job to take that bullet for you."

Sam began fully laughing at them now. "Do you two even listen to yourselves or does this stuff just come out?"

"I think to Dean it's just like a buzzing noise in his head." Kate smirked.

"Now who's being mature Kate?" He muttered as he dropped into the chair next to Sam's. "You see what I mean bro, evil."

"Hey Sam, have you ever seen your brother go down with one punch?" Kate asked Sam.

He looked up at her and grinned. "Nope, I can't say that I have."

Dean laughed. "You think you could knock me out? Even if I gave you a free hit, you couldn't knock me out."

"Sure I could. One punch and you'd be done."

"Yeah right." He smirked at her. "But what'd happen if I punched you huh?"

"Nothing. I'd stand here and take it."

"Oh sure, Kate you'd need your face remodeled." He said flatly.

Kate raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Whatever you say, Deano."

He smirked. "I could crush your face with my hand."

"You what?" He stood up and took a step towards her, grabbing her face with his hand. "Dean! Get off me!" She laughed as she punched him in the stomach.

"Ya know something, mom wanted a third kid, I wanted a puppy." She raised an eyebrow. "I still want a puppy."

"Oh pretend like I'm not the one thing in your life that gives you reason to go on." She muttered.

"Newsflash Kate, you're not."

"Well obviously you're not going to admit to it, that'd be awkward."

"You're unreal."

"When you idiots are done.." Sam grinned. "I'm sure people are dying somewhere." Dean and Kate looked between each other, neither answering him. "Alright good, 'cause I think I found us another job, about five or six hours away."

Dean looked down at his watch and thought it over. "Fine, let's hit the road."

_Hey again, hope you're liking part three so far and thank you for reading! :)_


	2. Chapter 2

Kate glanced up as Dean walked into the motel room, slamming the door behind himself. "Kate? Would you mind explaining to me why there's a speeding ticket in my car?"

"I guess you were caught speeding." She replied simply, not looking up from the tv.

"This is a speeding ticket from Crawford, Nebraska."

"Really?" She asked, uninterested.

"I've never been to Crawford, Nebraska."

"Oh you should, it's great. I was there last week." She smiled as she stood up and walked towards him.

He rolled his eyes and scrunched up the paper, throwing it at her. "You're so paying it."

"It's your car."

"Which you apparently stole and got caught speeding in."

"Guys, shut up." Sam interrupted them, looking up from his laptop with a smirk.

Dean laughed and pushed Kate down onto the bed before walking over to Sam. "So this case, what's the story?"

"Uh, seven chicks dead in the last month. All of them had their hearts ripped out."

"Sounds kinda gross.." Kate said, walking over to him and looking over his shoulder at the screen. "Any connection?"

Sam shook his head. "Apart from them all being women, nothing I could work out."

"Huh, sounds weird." Dean looked up at them and shrugged. "So what now? Talk to the families?"

Both Sam and Kate nodded, following Dean towards the door. They decided on talking to the latest victim's flatmate, a woman in her late twenties. "So, you knew Rachel?" She asked Sam and Kate as they took a seat on the couch opposite her.

"Yeah, we were friends of hers." Kate lied.

"So did she say anything weird before she died? Do anything, you know, strange?" Sam asked.

"No, she was totally normal. I mean, she was on her way back from work when.."

"Uh-huh, and where did she work again?"

"Down at one of the clubs in town, she was a dancer." She said, eyeing them suspiciously.

Kate raised an eyebrow. "What kind of dancer?"

"Well.. You know.." She trailed off.

"So she was a stripper?" Dean cut in flatly, suddenly appearing behind them. "Yeah, Kate here used to do that."

She shot a glare over her shoulder at him before turning back to the woman. "You know what, I haven't introduced you have I? This is Sam's boyfriend, Dean." She smirked.

"Oh, hey." She said, looking between the three of them.

"Well anyway, thanks." Sam said, standing up and leading the way to the door.

"Yeah, don't mention it." She said slowly as she closed the door behind them.

Dean walked up behind Kate and grabbed her in a headlock. "Have I ever told you that you're so not funny? I could've totally pulled her."

Kate shook her head at him and laughed. "You're so professional Dean. Seriously."

He smirked and let go of her as they climbed into the car, taking the short drive back to the motel room. "Now what?" Kate asked as they walked inside.

"Well, I checked that house. It was totally clean. So.." He thought about it for a minute. "Sammy, you're gonna do some research. I'm gonna have a shower. And you can go buy me some pie." He smirked, handing her his wallet.

"Fine, whatever." She said as she turned back to the door.

"Oh and I counted the money in there before you think about pocketing it." He said sarcastically.

"Dean." She said, acting shocked. "I would never."

Sam looked up at her. "Uh, how about last week when you 'borrowed' that twenty from my wallet."

"Whoa, hold on. That was him." She said pointing at Dean.

Sam turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, that one was actually me." He muttered.

"You told him it was me?" She shook her head. "I hope you choke on your pie Dean." She smirked before turning and walking out of the room.

Sam laughed and punched Dean lightly in the shoulder. "You're a terrible person bro."

"I know." He shrugged and smiled at him. "I'm going for a shower."

"Hey, I still want that back!" Sam yelled after him as the door closed. He laughed to himself as he turned on his laptop.

When Dean came out of the bathroom, Kate was back and sitting on the bed while Sam was using his laptop. "Let me guess, we're still no closer to finding out who's been killing who or why?" He muttered.

"Not exactly." Sam said, looking up from the screen. "All these women went missing from the same place."

"Where?" Dean and Kate both asked him at the same time.

"The strip club."

Dean picked up a couple of the missing posters from the table and looked over them. "Yeah, now you mention it, they do kinda look like strippers."

Kate rolled her eyes at him. "Couldn't you at least try to be a little more sensitive?"

"What? I'm sensitive."

She ignored him and picked up another one of the pictures. "So, we're on the case of the haunted strip club. That's just.. that's just great."

"You're damn right." Dean grinned.

"Ugh, look at yourself. You're like a child at christmas, it's disturbed."

"I'm sure if it was a male strip club, you'd have a whole other opinion on it."

"Oh, nice one Dean." She said flatly. "I'm almost laughing."

He smirked at her and stood up. "I'm gonna go check out the club."

"And why doesn't that surprise me?" Kate muttered sarcastically.

"You're welcome to come."

"I'll pass, thanks." He smiled at them as he walked out of the room, coming back a couple of hours later.

"So.." He began as he walked in. "I just looked around the whole club and guess what I found?" Dean asked with mock enthusiasm.

"What did you find?" Sam asked with a smirk, going along with him.

"Sulfur."

"Demons." Sam sighed. "Awesome."

"So I'm thinking.. Demon goes in, picks a random chick and then takes her outside to rip out her heart."

"Kinda gross.. What's the point of that?"

"Since when do demons need a reason to do anything? Sick bastard probably eats them or something."

"Yikes." Sam said flatly. "So what's the plan then?"

Dean smirked. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Well I generally try not to so.." He looked up at Dean who grinned as Sam caught onto what he was talking about. "No. Dean, no."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so. And she's your sister, how could you even consider it?"

"Am I missing something here?" Kate asked as she put down her magazine, suddenly becoming more interested in their conversation.

"He wants to use you as bait." Sam answered flatly.

"And..?" She looked up at Dean, suddenly realising what he meant. "Oh no. No way on this earth."

"Kate come on, we'll be there backing you up the whole time."

"Dean I don't think the demon is her problem." Dean looked up at him and raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Maybe it's something to do with you asking her to strip and pole dance."

"Oh come on, it's not like you've never flirted some info from a guy before."

"Yeah, a human guy. Fully clothed. Without a pole. Or you and Sam watching me."

"Hey you never know, they might even pay you. It's a win win."

She raised her eyebrows. "Dean, I'm not some kind of prostitute."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Don't you think you're being a little dramatic?"

"Ever since I turned like, what, fifteen.. You've done nothing but tell me to keep my clothes on and stay away from boys. And now you're asking me to give them a lap dance. What the hell Dean?"

"Do you want girls to continue having their hearts ripped out Kate?"

"Dean-"

"Of course you don't." He smiled innocently at her. "So? Do we have a plan?"

She glared at him and punched him in the chest. "I hate you for this."

He smirked over at Sam before pulling a photo from his back pocket. "Alright, so this is the meatsuit he's been walking around in." He said, handing her the picture. "He's who you're looking for."

"You've got this all planned out haven't you?" She shook her head. "You owe me big time for this one."

They pulled up outside the club and climbed out of the car. "So I talked to the manager earlier, he said you go in that door there so you can get changed and.. ya know, stuff." Dean said to her. She stood and stared at them for a minute before stuffing her hands into her pockets and walking away from them. He turned to face Sam and grinned. "See, told you she'd be fine once we got here."

Sam shook his head at him. "I need a drink." He muttered, turning towards the door. Dean smirked and followed him inside.

They took a seat at a table towards the back of the room, Dean casually watching a brown-haired girl dancing on one of the poles while casting the odd glance over towards his sister, ready to stab any guy who got too close. "I cannot believe you've got her doing this." Sam mumbled, downing one of the shots lined up on their table.

"S'all part of the job Sammy." He answered lightly.

"What would mom and dad say huh? If they knew what you had her doing."

Dean looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "You're gonna play the parents card? That's low Sam."

Oh, and having your little sister pole dance for a demon is so much more honourable." He muttered sarcastically.

"We're saving lives."

Sam shook his head and turned his back to Kate. "I can't even watch this. It's going to scar me for life."

Dean rolled his eyes and glanced over at her, the smirk quickly fading from his face. "Where the hell did she learn to do that?" He asked, sounding slightly disgusted. Sam hesitantly looked over his shoulder to see her pole dancing for a group of guys and even more disturbing, she seemed to know what she was doing. "Has she been pole dancing for people?!"

"You really think this is the time Dean?"

"Uh, yeah? Wait 'til I get my hands on her." Sam stared at his brother in disbelief for a minute before downing another shot. "Hey, she's got him." Sam sighed before turning around again. Kate was leaning over, whispering something in one of the guy's ears before winking at him and then nodding over at her brothers.

They finished their drink and made their way to the back alley behind the club, waiting for their sister. They watched as she walked around the corner, a tall guy with brown hair practically attached to her. She looked over his shoulder at where her brothers were and walked the demon backwards until he was standing in the devil's trap that Sam and Dean had drawn on the floor. She stepped away from him and stood between her brothers. "Nice trick." He muttered flatly.

"Thanks." Dean smiled sarcastically. "Any last words before we send your ass back to hell? Like why you've been ripping out women's hearts maybe?"

"Meh." He shrugged. "I got bored."

"Right." He pulled a face at Sam who shrugged at him before he began chanting off an exorcism. They stood and watched the black smoke leave the guy's body before he fell to the floor. He lay there for a few seconds before scrambling to his feet and looking between the three of them.

"Hey man, it's-" Sam started.

"No. No, stay the hell away from me." He said quickly backing away from them.

"Look we're not gonna hurt you." He said, slightly louder.

He shook his head before turning and running out of the alley, out of sight. "Well, that went well.." Dean stated. "Let's get out of here, before someone gets the wrong idea."

They walked out of the dark alley onto the slightly lighter street and towards the Impala. "Here." Sam said to Kate as he tossed her one of his jackets. Dean turned and looked over his sister as she pulled it on. She was wearing some black hotpants and a cropped vest with some black stilettos, her face plastered with make up.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" She asked him blankly.

"You kinda look like a whore." He stated, a disapproving frown on his face.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I kinda feel like a whore."

Dean took the hint and climbed into the car, driving back to the motel room. "So Kate.." He started, ignoring the warning glare from his brother.

She didn't look away from the window as she answered. "What?"

"You seemed pretty comfortable up there."

"And?" She looked up and narrowed her eyes at him. "What exactly are you accusing me of?"

"Nothing. I'm just asking.. you done that before?"

"No, of course I haven't."

"You sure about that?" She shook her head at him, not bothering with an answer as he pulled up outside their motel. They walked over the parking lot and into the room, Kate heading straight to the bathroom. "Where're you going?" Dean asked her.

"For a shower." She muttered. "I feel like I need one."

"Don't you think you're over reacting just a little?"

"Dean. I've spent the night half naked, stripping for pervy guys and dancing on a pole. Not to mention the fact that I then had to seduce a demon. And then make out with it before standing around in a shady back alley where god knows what goes on. Maybe you can understand, I'm feeling a little gross right now." She said as she turned to the bathroom and closed the door.

"I think she's pissed at me." Dean stated, turning to Sam.

"Ya think?" He smirked. "You actually blame her?"

Dean shook his head and walked towards the bathroom door, knocking on it lightly. "Kate?" He sighed when he got no answer, turning at leaning his back against the door. "Look, I'm sorry I made you pole dance for creepy old guys okay? And I'm sorry that you had to even breathe the same air as a demon.. I'll make it up to you alright, what do you want?"

"Some fries." She said through the door flatly.

Dean looked up at Sam and raised an eyebrow. "Fries?"

"Yeah, I really want some fries."

He smirked and shook his head at her. "I'll go get you some fries. If you're gonna be in a better mood when I get back. Deal?"

"Deal."

He grinned at Sam on his way to the door. "Chicks man, they're easy." Sam shook his head at him in disbelief as he walked out of the room.

_Thank you all so much for the reviews/alerts/favorites! Hope you're enjoying and thanks for reading! :) _


	3. Chapter 3

_A massive thank you to my buddy Lauren for giving me the idea for this chapter, hope ya liked ;-) Also, if anyone else has a request for a chapter, just let me know! Thanks for reading.  
And also thank you to everyone for reviewing/favoriting/following - You're all awesome! :-)_

Dean walked out of the bathroom and looked over his brother who was still sleeping. "Sam, get your ass up or I swear, I'll start cutting your hair."

Sam smirked to himself and sat up to look at Dean. "Try it and your life won't be worth living."

Dean scoffed. "Oh yeah?"

He rolled his eyes and climbed out of bed. "Where's Kate anyway?" He asked, looking around the room.

"She went to get breakfast." He frowned and looked down at his watch. "Like twenty minutes ago."

He was about to answer when Dean's phone rang. Sam picked it up from the table and glanced at the unknown number before handing it to his brother. "You know who that is?" He asked curiously.

Dean shook his head before answering the phone. "Yeah?"

_"Yo, it's me." _

"Kate? It's taking you a long time to pick up some coffee from across the street isn't it? Where are you?"

_"I'm just heading to the diner now, I'll be back soon."_

"Right, so what's with the cryptic number?"

_"Oh, I'm calling you off my new phone." _

He stopped and smirked to himself. "Oh really? And where did you get the money to do that?"

_"From the six hundred bucks I made pole dancing last night."_

His eyebrows shot up. "You made how much? Maybe we should send you to strip clubs more often."

_"Real funny Dean. Maybe you should take up stripping yourself."_

"Maybe I will, I think I'd make a pretty good stripper."

_"No Dean, just.. Don't go there."_

"Why? I mean-"

_"Dean."_ She cut him off_. "Please, stop."_

"But all I'm saying is that- Kate?" He stopped and laughed to himself as he realised she'd hung up.

He looked up at Sam who was staring at him with raised eyebrows. "I don't even want to know what that conversation was about." He stated before sitting down at the table.

Dean smirked and sat down opposite him. "She said she's heading to the diner, she won't be long."

"Cool, I'm gonna have a shower." Sam muttered before walking to the bathroom.

Kate paid the cashier before picking up the bag of food and coffees and turning towards the door to leave. "Kate?" A voice said from behind her.

She turned around, her jaw dropping slightly at the sight of the two guys sitting at the table behind her. "Well, well.. If it isn't the ghostbusters."

"Uh, that's ghostfacers." One of them said to her. "We saved her life and she doesn't even remember our names."

"Sure I do.. Ed and Harry right? And from what I remember, it was us who saved your lives, not the other way around." She said with a smirk. Harry moved over in his seat so that she could sit down. "So, what are you idiots doing in Pittsburg?"

"We're investigating." Harry told her seriously.

"Oh really? Anything got your spidey senses tingling so far?" She asked sarcastically.

"Something has." Ed said slowly, blatantly looking down her shirt.

Kate rolled her eyes and sat up straighter. "You're here about those deaths last week right?"

"Yeah, we checked it out but there's nothing going on here."

She smiled and nodded. "You sure that's not just your bad hunting skills?"

Harry scoffed. "Speaking of bad hunting skills.. Where's lame and lamer?"

"That's cute." She said flatly. "If you're referring to Sam and Dean they're at the motel.. Where's the rest of your posse?"

"They're not here.. Harry and I decided we'd take this one alone." Ed said dramatically.

"Uh-huh? That's brave man, real brave."

"You know, we have our own web series now. I mean, you would've been on it but something went wrong with our tapes."

Kate almost choked on her coffee. "Oh.. That's terrible, really."

"Yeah, I mean I'm sure it had nothing to do with whatever that thing was that your brother left in that bag but.. whatever."

She supressed a laugh and nodded. "Well, I better be getting back. Lame and lamer are gonna be wondering where I've gone with their coffee." She muttered sarcastically. "I'll see you around."

"Hey Kate." Ed called after her.

She turned and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You know if that motel room of yours get a little crowded, you're welcome to share with me." He said with a wink.

She laughed and nodded. "Thanks. I'll, uh, bear that in mind." She smirked to herself as she left the diner and walked across the street to the motel.

"Hey." Dean said as she walked in.

"Hey, where's Sam?"

"Shower." He muttered as she sat down. "Let's see your new phone then."

She rolled her eyes and passed it to him. "You'll never guess who I just ran into."

"Hey, why am I saved under jackass?" He frowned. "I don't know, who?"

"Ed and Harry."

He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Ghostfacers."

"Oh, that's just awesome."

"What's just awesome?" Sam asked as he walked into the room. "Cause if you're talking about me you know you can tell me, I won't judge."

Dean scoffed. "You wish.. Ed and Harry are in town."

"Wait, Ed and Harry as in.. Ghostfacers Ed and Harry?"

"Uh-huh."

"What the hell are they doing in Pittsburg?"

"Apparently they're working the same case as us."

"Seriously?" Dean picked up his coffee and shook his head, swearing under his breath.

"See Sam, I always thought those two brought out the worst in Dean."

"Very funny Kate." Dean said sarcastically. "So this job, what's the story?"

"Uh, a couple of people died in the last week.. Both of 'em great grandkids of a guy who was rumoured to have murdered his wife back in the fifties." Sam told him.

"Huh.. So we're thinking pissed off spirit taking revenge on her murderers relatives? I can buy that." He muttered as he took a bite of food. "You know where the chick's buried?"

"No, but the house where it happened is on the edge of town.. It's been abandoned ever since."

Kate groaned. "So we have to go check out the creepy abandoned house? Awesome." Kate muttered.

"You know you love it." Dean smirked at her.

Later that day, they went to the old house, Sam heading inside first. "What exactly are we looking for Sam?" Kate asked as they followed him up the stairs.

"I dunno.. Something that tells us where she's buried I guess.. Death certificate or something."

"Yeah but don't you think that-" She stopped, hearing a faint bang downstairs.

"What's up?" Dean asked her.

"I heard something." The three of them stayed silent until there was a louder bang. They looked at each other before walking quickly back down the stairs, Dean walking straight into Ed and Harry at the bottom.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" Dean asked them, lowering the gun.

"Well Kate said the case wasn't solved.." Harry said looking between them.

Dean turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "Oh did she?"

She looked up at him and shrugged. "Not exactly.. I honestly didn't think it through that far."

"..So we decided to do some more investigating." He finished.

"Well that's just great." Dean muttered.

"Uh, Dean." Sam said quietly, feeling the temperature drop about ten degrees. Dean stopped, looking around and raising his shotgun as he realised what his brother was getting at.

"What's going on?" Ed asked.

"It's-" Dean stopped as he turned to face him. "Please god, tell me that's not a camera."

"Uh, of course it's a camera. How else would we document our work?"

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." Sam mumbled.

"Well how do you do it then, genius?"

"Buddy, we do anything we can to forget our work." Dean said sarcastically.

"Hey guys.." Kate said from the doorway of the room. "I don't wanna alarm you but all the doors are locked."

"You what?" Dean asked flatly.

"And the windows."

He glanced from her to Sam. "Please tell me you're joking." He said as he walked past her, closely followed by Ed and Harry.

Sam leaned against the wall and looked at Kate. "So we're on a supernatural lockdown. With the Ghostfacers. Again." He looked up and shook his head. "Just kill me now."

Kate smirked and punched him in the shoulder lightly, looking up as Dean walked towards them. "One more camera and I'm going to kill something. And I don't mean the ghost."

"Maybe it's karma.. You know since we destroyed all their tapes last time." Kate said absent-mindedly.

"No, the universe just obviously hates us." Dean said flatly.

Sam smiled. "I'm gonna carry on looking for something upstairs.. See if we can find out where she's buried." He said before walking away.

"Where's the other one?" Dean asked Ed as he walked towards them.

"He's on the phone with Maggie."

"They're still together?" Kate smiled. "That's cute."

"I'm single you know." He said, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Shocker." Dean muttered, earning him an amused glare from his sister.

"I'm gonna go check the other room." She muttered before walking away from them. Dean nodded and turned to the stairs to go and find Sam.

Kate looked up from the stack of papers she was going through as Ed entered the room. "Hey." He said. She raised an eyebrow and smiled lightly before looking back at the papers. "So.. If we get out of here alive do you wanna, you know, go out for a drink or something?"

She laughed and looked up at him. " You know what, I might actually take you up on that offer."

"Really?" He asked. "I mean, cool, it's a date."

"No. It's not a date."

"It's totally a date."

She rolled her eyes at walked towards the door. "Do me a favour, go through those and see if you can find anything interesting. I'm gonna go see what they're doing." She muttered before heading towards the stairs.

"Where's Kate?" Sam asked Dean as he walked into the room.

"Uh, I think she's in the process of being asked out by geekboy downstairs."

"Seriously?"

"Uh-huh."

He looked past Dean's shoulder at Kate as she headed towards them. "So?"

"So what?" She asked.

"Ya take pity on the guy?" Dean smirked, turning to face her.

"Will you guys quit being so horrible to them?" She laughed. "They're not so bad."

"See Sam, he's asked her out once and she's already siding with her boyfriend over her brothers."

"Would you quit it? He's not my boyfriend."

"She's quit team Winchester for team Facers." Sam said dramatically. "How ever will we go on?"

She smirked and shook her head. "Okay, you guys are jerks. You know that right?"

"Oh, we know." Dean laughed.

They spent the next few hours going through all the papers they could find in the house, finding nothing to tell them where the ghost's body could be buried. "Hey guys, how much longer is it gonna be until we get out of here?" Harry called from the doorway.

"We don't know." Dean said flatly, clearly getting annoyed. "And if you point those cameras at me one more time I'm going to shove them up your-"

"Okay." Sam cut him off. "Listen to me. We're stuck in the house, with the ghost. And the only way we have of getting out is to burn the bones. So yeah. It's not looking good guys."

Harry frowned slightly. "So why don't you just burn the bones?" He asked, looking between them.

Dean sighed in frustration. "Because we're locked in the house." He said through gritted teeth. "What part of that do you not understand?"

"Yeah, but the bones are in the basement right?"

"What?" They all asked him at the same time.

Ed scoffed and turned to Harry. "Call themselves paranormal investigators, they don't even bother reading the legends."

"Typical." Harry muttered. "The dude killed his wife and buried her in the basement."

"And you didn't think to mention this three hours ago?!" Dean shook his head and pushed past them. "Freakin' morons." They headed down to the basement and quickly found where she was buried. "I could kill them, I swear to god." Dean muttered as he found a shovel and began digging, Sam and Kate keeping watch for the ghost with their guns.

Once they'd burned the bones, they made their way back upstairs. "Check the doors." Sam said to Kate.

She walked towards it and took a breath before pushing it open, turning back to them and smirking as it did. "Right, let's get the hell out of here. Before I beat them to death with their own cameras." Dean muttered, picking up his bag and walking straight to the door.

Sam looked down at Kate and smirked. "I think they stress him out." He said lightly.

"I think you're right." She grinned, looking up as the two of them came crashing into the room.

"Did you get it?" Harry asked them.

"Yeah, so we're gonna go.." Sam answered. "We'll see you around guys."

"I'll see you tonight Kate." Ed winked at her before waving at Sam as they left.

"You actually said yes?" He asked as they climbed into the car.

"Yeah, why not?"

"You're an idiot." Sam smirked and shook his head as Dean started the car, driving them back to the motel.

They stayed in the motel room for a few hours, Sam and Dean watching tv while Kate sat with her feet on the table, looking for another hunt on Sam's laptop. "Hey, shouldn't you be going?" Sam asked her.

"Probably." She glanced over at the clock before letting her feet drop to the floor and standing up.

"Have fun." He smirked at her as she pulled on her jacket. "Bow chicka wow wow."

She stopped and raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"C'mon, that was funny."

"Oh my aching sides." She mumbled sarcastically.

Dean shook his head and pointed at her. "No funny business alright? Do we need to have the talk again?"

"Oh please god, no. I still cringe thinking about the last time."

"Hey, you're lucky it was just me. Me and Sam had to have it from dad."

"Well, as always, sucks to be you." She smiled, walking towards the door and giving them a quick wave before leaving.

As the door closed, Dean turned to his brother and raised his eyebrows. "Bow chicka wow wow? Seriously Sam?"

Sam smirked at him. "Dude, c'mon, it's Ed."

"I don't care. He's not good enough for her."

He let out a laugh. "Dean, you say that about every guy she goes out with."

"Hey, the minute we approve a guy, she's up and married and dumping her kids on us to babysit."

Sam just stared at him for a minute. "You have issues."

"Whatever." He grinned. "So I'm thinking booze, pizza, booze.. and then maybe some more booze.."

Sam laughed and nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

Dean woke the next morning to the sound of his sister's laughter. "What the hell could you be finding so funny at six in the morning?" He grumbled, sitting up to look at her. She was sitting beside Sam on his bed, both laughing at whatever was on Sam's laptop.

"Dean c'mere." She said.

He sighed and got out of bed, dropping down at the other side of Kate. "Is this-?"

"Uh-huh. Ghostfacers latest episode. We're internet famous." Sam smirked at him.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me."

Sam laughed. "That's what I said.."

"Freakin' morons." Dean shook his head. ''Oh hey, how was your date last night?'' He asked Kate in an amused voice.

''How many times, it wasn't a date.''

He looked at Sam and smirked. ''It was totally a date.''

''Totally.''

"You're both jerks." She laughed. "Really."

Sam grinned and elbowed her lightly. "Course we are."


	4. Chapter 4

The next week Sam, Dean and Kate headed to another town for another hunt. They'd worked out that it was a spirit, meaning Sam and Kate were sitting in the motel room while Dean went to find out who it was. They both looked up as Dean walked into the room, pulling off his jacket and sinking into the chair beside Sam's with a sigh. Sam raised an eyebrow at him. "You alright?"

"Oh yeah, awesome." He smiled. "So, I found out who the ghost was."

"And?"

"It was the husband."

Kate's face broke out into a grin. "Knew it."

"Yeah, yeah." Dean muttered, pulling a twenty from his back pocket and handing it to her. "I let you have that one."

Sam looked between them and laughed. "You bet money on who the ghost was?"

"Well Dean was giving his whole 'I can read people' speech while he was reading your research, said he was dead sure on who the ghost was."

"Well, if the papers printed the story a little less one sided-"

"Yeah Dean, blame the articles." Kate smirked. "You find out where the dude was buried?"

"No, they didn't know. So, I've checked it out and there are two graveyards in this town. I'll take one of them and you two go check out the other. See who finds him first."

"Sure." Sam nodded. "Couldn't possibly think of a better way to spend a Friday night."

Dean and Kate laughed at him. "Knowing you Sam, that's probably true." Dean smirked.

Later that night, Dean dropped Sam and Kate off at one of the graveyards before making his way to the other one. He'd been wandering around for about an hour when his phone rang. "Yeah?" He answered.

_"Hey bro."_

"Kate?" He frowned. "What's up?"

_"We found the grave, so we'll take care of it and meet you back at the motel. Just thought I'd let you know so you're not wandering around a graveyard in the cold for no reason."_

"Huh, that's surprisingly nice of you." He laughed.

_"Well, I do have my moments." _

Dean smirked to himself. "Very rarely."

_"Funny Dean. I'm starting to wish I'd just left you to it."_

"Yeah, whatever." He muttered. "I'll see you back at the motel."

_"Sure thing." _Dean hung up the phone and shoved it back into his pocket before heading back to the car.

Kate looked up at Sam as she placed her phone in the back pocket of her jeans. "What did Dean say?"

"He's gonna meet us back at the motel." She smiled at him. "So, shall we get on with it?"

"Sure." He glanced up at her and sighed as she held out a shovel to him.

Kate stood on the edge, holding a torch as he dug. "Can't you go any faster? I'm kinda cold." She said once he was about half way down.

"Ya know, you could help."

"I am helping." She replied simply.

"Kate, keeping watch doesn't count as helping." He said sarcastically, grinning up at her.

"Sure it does." He stopped digging and raised an eyebrow at her. "Fine, get out. I'll finish it."

"Sure."

"I'm serious."

"Alright, fine. Knock yourself out." He smirked as she jumped down and handed him the torch.

She climbed out again once she hit the coffin. "You can take it from here." She smiled.

Sam scoffed. "Chicken." As Sam began throwing salt over the bones, the ghost appeared behind him. Kate shot it before it reappeared beside her and threw her across the graveyard.

"Kate!" Sam yelled, his eyes frantically scanning the darkness for her. Putting his protective big brother mode on hold he turned back to the coffin, throwing the rest of salt down followed by the matches. Once the body began to burn, he turned back to where his sister had been thrown and looked around for her. He saw her sit up holding her head, quickly running over to her and holding out an arm.

"My hero." She smirked up at him, grabbing his hand and letting him pull her to her feet.

"You are so lucky to be conscious right now." He grinned. "You okay?"

"Oh yeah. Awesome." She smiled at him. Sam nodded and laughed as he ruffled her hair. They finished filling in the grave and began the walk back to the motel. "Where are you going?" Kate asked Sam as he walked off in a different direction.

"Relax, I know a shortcut."

"Sam, I've been on your shortcuts before. Let's just go this way.." She called after him. "Besides, that way's just muddy."

"C'mon, I know where I'm going. It's not going to be muddy, trust me." She shook her head. "Look, you can either come with me or you can walk that way by yourself." He smirked and turned away. "It's up to you."

"God, I hate you Sam." She muttered as she walked after him.

"Of course you do."

Kate sighed as they walked through the muddy field. "I know a shortcut, he said. It won't be muddy at all, he said." She muttered to herself, causing Sam to smirk.

"Fair enough, I didn't expect it to be this bad.."

"No, you just enjoy watching me suffer."

"You are such a girl. It's only a bit of mud."

"Shut up Sam." She said as she shoved him in the arm. As she pushed him, he slipped on some mud and ended up lying flat on the floor. "Oh my god, jeez Sam, you okay?" She asked half shocked, half amused. He groaned and got to his feet to look at her, half of his face covered in mud. She grinned and looked down, trying to keep her face straight. "Sam, I'm sorry."

"Oh, you will be." He smirked, taking a step towards her.

"Sammy, please don't." She began backing away from him, still laughing. "It's only a bit of mud." He took another step towards her and grabbed her face with his muddy hands. "Sam, you total jerk! You're so dead!"

Sam laughed and moved out of the way as she lunged for him. He grinned as she jumped on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and trying to pull him to the ground. "You really think you can fight a guy twice your size? Really?" He said sarcastically. She kicked the back of his knee and managed to get him to the ground, shoving a handful of mud in his face.

Sam stumbled to his feet and ran after her. He grabbed her around the waist, pushing her to the ground and holding her there. "Dude! Seriously, get off me!" She yelled, trying to stop herself from laughing. "I mean it Sam, I don't even like you."

He laughed and shook his head. "Of course you don't." He said with a grin, pulling her to her feet and smirking at her. "You've got some mud in your hair."

She flicked some mud at him and punched him in the arm. "So have you Sam." He threw an arm around her shoulder before they began walking again.

They walked into the motel room to find Dean sitting watching some bad horror movie. "Hey, what took you so long?" He asked, not looking up from the tv. When neither answered, he looked up at them. "What the hell happened to you two?" He asked, his voice shocked.

"Sam fell in the mud." Kate answered him flatly.

"Your sister pushed me."

Dean raised his eyebrows and looked between them. "Are you serious? I send you to finish a hunt and you come back like-" He stopped and began laughing at them. "You're a couple of idiots."

Sam grinned and shook his head. "I'm gonna take a shower."

Before Kate had even opened her mouth to argue, he'd pulled the bathroom door closed behind himself. Dean looked up at her and smirked. "I wouldn't worry about it, there's no hot water anyway."

Kate laughed and moved to sit on the chair beside his. "So, ya have fun sitting here doing nothing while we were out digging up corpses."

"Oh yeah, apparently not as much fun as you though." He smirked as he pulled a clump of mud from her hair. "What d'ya say we get pizza huh?"

She nodded and smiled. "Sure."

_Another massive thank you to you all for reading/reviewing/favoriting/following - You're all amazing! :) _


	5. Chapter 5

"Sammy, watch out!" Dean yelled over his shoulder as he swung his machete through a vampire's neck. Sam quickly turned and did the same. They both looked around the dimly lit barn where they had found the vampire's nest.

"Dean!" Sam yelled. Dean spun around to find himself almost nose to nose with another vampire. He was thrown backwards, crashing hard into a wall and falling to the ground with a thud. The vampire pinned him to the ground and sank his teeth into Dean's neck. He groaned in pain as he tried to push the guy off him. His eyes went wide as Kate ran towards the vampire and threw an arm around its neck, pulling him back from Dean. The vampire turned from Dean to Kate and threw her into the other wall before making his way over to her. He stopped dead in his tracks when Sam ran towards him from the side and sent a machete slicing through his neck, the body dropping to the floor.

He glanced over at Dean who was already stumbling to his feet while holding his neck. "You alright?" He asked, his voice concerned.

Dean coughed and pulled back his hand, groaning at the blood covering his palm. "Yeah, I'm alright. Where's Kate?"

They looked between each other and headed in the direction that Kate had been thrown. She stood up and walked towards them, holding the side of her head where a gash was pouring blood. "My god, are you okay?" Sam asked, grabbing her arm and looking at the cut.

"I'm fine." She smiled lightly.

He breathed out a sigh and nodded. "You almost got yourself killed there you idiot."

"Hey, saved his ass." She smirked. Sam smiled at her and nodded.

Dean stormed over, pushing past Sam to glare at her. "What the hell were you thinking?! You could've gotten yourself killed!" He yelled at her.

"I just saved your damn life!" She shouted back.

"I don't need you to save my damn life!" He sighed and lowered his voice. "Get in the car."

"Dean-"

"I said, get in the car." He repeated, more harshly. Kate shook her head at him and followed him to the car. They drove back to the motel in silence. Dean refused to take his eyes from the road while Kate seemed to be either too pissed off or in too much pain to bother trying to talk to him. Sam glanced between them nervously, knowing what was coming when they arrived back at the motel room. Dean climbed out of the car and walked straight to the room, not looking at either Kate or Sam. Sam shot her a quick smile and squeezed her shoulder before they followed Dean over the parking lot.

"What the hell was that?!" Dean demanded as he pushed the door open.

"What is your problem?" Kate replied defensively, following him inside.

He turned to face her, his face hard. "Kate, you just threw yourself at a vampire, what the hell do you mean what's my problem?!" He yelled as he picked up a cloth and held it to his bleeding neck.

"It was about three seconds from killing you. So yeah, I just saved your life. A little thanks might be nice."

"You want me to thank you for nearly killing yourself?!"

"Dean, I'm fine! It may have escaped your notice but I'm an adult, maybe you should treat me like one!"

"Well maybe I will, when you stop pulling stupid stunts like that!"

"Guys, come on." Sam said tentatively, taking a step forwards and standing between them. He knew that if he didn't at least make an effort to break them up they would both just fight for the last word, and the only way they ever won that was by saying something to really hurt the other. Walking away from fights before they got out of hand was a concept neither Dean or Kate seemed to have mastered, no matter how much trouble it had gotten them into in the past.

"Don't you dare." Kate said to Dean, both of them completely ignoring Sam's attempt to calm them down. "You'd have pulled the same thing if it'd been me or Sam and you damn well know it."

"Yeah, but the difference is I know what I'm doing."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're saying I don't?"

"Well you're certainly not the smartest person out there sometimes are you?"

"Dean, I was trying to help you. You know that. Quit being a jerk."

"I told you, I don't need your help. The only thing I need is for you to back off."

"Back off? You're telling me to back off?"

"I don't need your help Kate. And you know what? I don't want your help!"

Kate scoffed. "You are such a dick, you know that?"

"I'm a dick? What does that make you huh? Major bitch."

"Call me a bitch again and I'll punch that smirk right off your face." She challenged him.

He looked her straight in the face and smirked harder. "Bitch."

She took a step back and smiled before punching him hard in the cheek. "Don't push me Dean." She said through gritted teeth, glaring up at him.

"Why? What are you gonna do?! You don't know how to fight your own battles Kate because I've been doing it for years!" She sighed, knowing that if one of them didn't leave now it was going to get way out of hand.

"I'm not listening to this." She said, moving around him towards the door.

"Don't you dare walk out of that door." He said angrily, going after her and grabbing her hard around the arm.

"Get your hands off me!"

"You're not going anywhere Kate."

"And you're gonna stop me?"

He shook his head at her. "You know, I wish I'd never bothered bringing you with me all those years ago, I should've just left your sorry ass with dad. It was the worst mistake I ever made." She shoved him hard in the chest to make him let go of her arm and stormed to the door, pulling it open and slamming it closed behind herself.

As soon as the door banged closed, Sam glanced over at his brother. He could see the anger in his face gradually fading away as a sense of guilt washed over him. He knew Dean hated fighting with her, just like he hated watching them fight. Slowly, he moved towards the table and picked up a bottle of whiskey, handing it to his brother. Dean gave him a small smile and took a long drink. "I can't believe you just said that to her." Sam said to him slowly.

Dean sighed heavily and shook his head. "I know. What was I-" He stopped and put the bottle down.

"You two hardly ever fight, but when you do.. It's always bad."

"She's just such an idiot sometimes. She's so reckless."

Sam smiled slightly. "Yeah, and whose fault is that?"

"Mine. And I know it's mine. That's why I'm so pissed."

"Look, you just need to calm down and you can go sort it out with her."

Dean looked at him and sighed. He knew she'd still be pissed at him, he didn't blame her for it. But he knew he needed to sort it out, before it was too late. "I'm gonna go find her."

Sam nodded at him. "Sure."

Dean walked out of the motel room onto the street. He immediately saw Kate sitting on the wall over the street. From what he could see, she looked like she was taking breaths to calm herself down. She looked up at him and stood from the wall before she turned and walked away. Dean knew he'd crossed a line with what he'd said to her and ran over the street, trying to catch up with her. "Kate!" She continued to walk away from him. "Hold on!"

"I don't wanna talk to you right now." She said coldly over her shoulder.

"Look, I know you're pissed at me but-"

She stopped and turned quickly to face him. Only now did he see the true amount of anger in her face. "There aren't any buts Dean. You know, I always knew that you could be a dick but that.." She shook her head and looked away for a second. "That was the closet I've ever come to hating you."

His eyes widened a little in shock at her words. "You don't mean that."

"No, you're right. I do hate you." He saw that she too looked slightly taken aback by what had just come out of her mouth. They'd had their fights before, some worse than others, but neither of them had ever gone as far as saying that to each other. "Just, leave me alone." She muttered, turning around and carrying on walking.

Dean stood still for a minute before going after her. "Kate!" She walked faster, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall as she ran a hand over her face. "Hey!" Dean yelled, now sounding angry. "You better stop right now or I swear-"

Kate stopped and faced him. "What Dean?! What?"

He shook his head at her. "You know what, I can't even be bothered with you anymore. Go be a bitch with someone who gives a damn." She glared at him before walking away, Dean turning in the opposite direction and doing the same. Kate slowed down slightly and sighed, dropping down on a bench and shaking her head to herself. She sat there for about ten minutes, a fist pressed to her mouth and her jaw clenched. She was pulled from her thoughts by a group of guys running towards her at full speed, one of them holding a knife. He looked right at her as he passed before turning back to the road and taking off. She frowned to herself as she watched them run off.

Narrowing her eyes, she slowly turned her head to look down the street her brother had walked. "Shit, Dean." She whispered, jumping from the bench and sprinting down the road. As she ran further, she could see someone lying on the floor outside a bar. "God, no." She muttered to herself as she realised that it was her brother.

The shock of it all hit her as she dropped to her knees beside him and put pressure on the wound in his stomach, pouring blood. "Dean? Dean?!" For the first time that night, the tears finally fell down her cheeks as she placed a hand to his neck. "Dean, wake up. Please." She shook him but got no response. "God Dean, I'm sorry, please just wake up." She frantically searched his jacket and pulled out his phone, calling an ambulance with shaking hands. The second she was done, she found Sam's number.

Sam looked down at his phone and frowned slightly. "Dean?"

_"Dean's been stabbed." _Kate's voice answered.

He stopped, not sure that he'd heard her right. "What?!"

_"He's not waking up!" _Sam could hear the panic in her voice as she spoke. _"Sam he's not breathing."_ She added quietly.

"Calm down."

_"Sam, he's not fucking breathing!" _She yelled.

"Kate! You need to calm down and call an ambulance. I'm on my way alright."

He shoved the phone into his pocket and ran to the door, crossing the street in the direction he'd watched Dean follow Kate earlier. As he rounded the corner, he was met with a growing number of people. He carelessly shoved his way to the front where he found Kate leaning against the wall shaking, from the shock or because she was only wearing a t-shirt he didn't know. Both her hands and shirt were stained with blood, tears on her face as she watched Dean being placed onto the stretcher by the paramedics. Sam glanced down at his brother and felt something sink inside of him, he felt sick. He moved towards Kate and grabbed her, pulling her towards him. "Go with him." He told her quietly.

"Sam I-"

"Kate. Go with him." He looked her in the eyes and gave her a reassuring look. "I'll be right behind you." He managed a weak smile before gently pushing her towards the waiting ambulance. As soon as the doors were closed he sprinted back to the motel where the car was parked and drove himself to the hospital.

_I'm horrible to them, I know! Please don't hate me ;-)  
Thanks for reading, and again, thank you so much for the support. _


	6. Chapter 6

Sam drove to the hospital recklessly, not bothering about how many cars he was overtaking or how many speeding laws he was breaking. The only thing on his mind right now was that gut wrenching sight of his brother lying on that stretcher, his skin pale and his shirt covered in his own blood. He barely even noticed as the ambulance he was closely following turned a corner and pulled into the hospital's parking lot, Sam coming to an abrupt halt behind it. The second he'd found a parking space he jumped from the car and ran, his eyes set on the double glass doors at the front of the building. He ran straight to the reception desk, slamming his hand down and demanding to know where his brother had been taken. He could feel the panic quickly escalating in his chest as he marched through the quiet corridors of the hospital, his eyes darting around for any sign of Dean or Kate. Sam rounded a corner, coming to a stop at the sight before him. Kate was leaning against the wall outside one of the rooms, slightly bent over with her hands rested on her knees. He noticed that her jaw was tightly clenched, an obvious sign of her trying to hold back the tears threatening to fall. Sam began moving towards her, trying to look anywhere but the deep red stains of Dean's blood still covering both her hands and t-shirt. "Kate." He pressed gently, making her jump slightly as his voice broke through her thoughts. As she looked up at him, he noticed the deep gash on her forehead from back at the vampire's nest, the dried blood still trailed down one side of her face. "He's gonna be fine, you'll see." He said to her softly, his words not even sounding believable to himself. When she didn't answer him, he slowly placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a strong hug, trying to offer her what little comfort he could. "Jeez, you're shaking." He stated quietly, tightening his arms around her and resting a hand at the back of her head. Sam looked up as he noticed a doctor making his way towards them, placing a soft kiss to the top of Kate's head before pulling back from the hug and closing the distance between himself and the man.

Kate watched as Sam followed him over to the reception desk, the obvious demand of answers coming from her brother's mouth as he quickly filled out the forms he had been given. She brushed some tears from her face with the back of her hand and dropped her head back against the wall with a small thud. She looked up at the dull white ceiling and sighed, her words from earlier that night constantly swimming around in her mind. The look of sheer hurt and shock on the face of her brother when she'd turned around to him and told him she hated him, she couldn't shake it from her head. Her eyes fell to Sam as he made his way back towards her, noting the defeated and helpless look on his face before he pulled her into a strong hug. This one, she was pretty sure, more for his own comfort than hers. "What did he say?" She asked him quietly.

Sam shook his head. "He didn't know anything, said they'll tell us when they do." He mumbled.

Kate waited a couple of minutes before she said anything. "This is my fault Sam." She whispered into his chest, the guilt in her words clear to Sam.

"How? Some guy stabs him, that's not your fault." He reasoned with her. She pulled away and slowly let herself slide down the wall until she was sitting on the floor.

"Right." She responded quietly, barely being able to process more words. Sam took a seat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him so that her head was rested against his shoulder. Neither of them spoke or even moved for about an hour, both of them too deep in their own thoughts. "You know, I kinda wish I hadn't gotten out of bed this morning." Kate confessed, her voice emotionless as she sat up straighter to look at Sam.

He gave a dry laugh and nodded. "Yeah, tell me about it."

Something suddenly occurred to her. "What are we supposed to say if they ask about the bite on his neck? I mean, how are we supposed to explain a bunch of fang holes?"

"Crap, I didn't even think of that." He stopped and shook his head, this would normally have been one of those situations where they would have avoided a hospital at all costs, not wanting to have to explain their not too common injuries. "I've got no idea." He told her honestly, glancing down the corridor and sighing at the sight of the two police officers talking to Dean's doctor. "Your forehead's still bleeding, you should go and get it checked out while we're here." He said gently, looking over the deep cut.

"No. I'm not leaving him Sam."

"Kate, seriously." He nodded to the side. "Go and get it checked out."

Kate followed his eyes to where the police were down the hallway and looked away. "Sure." She muttered, giving his hand a small squeeze before getting to her feet.

Sam stood and frowned to himself as he watched her walk away, something was off about her. He thought back to the fight between her and Dean, wondering how much worse it could have gotten once they'd left. "Mr Smith?" A voice asked from behind him. Sam turned and sighed, this was the last thing he needed to be dealing with right now. "We're with the police, do you mind if we ask you a few questions about what happened?"

"Look, I can't help you." He answered flatly. "I wasn't even there."

"Would we be able to speak with your sister?"

Sam shook his head. "No. Not right now."

"Sir, we need a statement from her."

"I said, not now." He repeated harshly.

The two officers looked between each other, apparently coming to the consensus that Sam wasn't someone they wanted to piss off any further than he already had been. One of them pulled a card from his jacket and handed it to him. "Get her to give us a call when she's ready to talk." Sam took the card and shot them a bitter smile as they walked away. He stuffed the card into his jacket pocket before dropping down on one of the chairs outside Dean's room, waiting for Kate to get back. He could easily see that something was bothering her, something more than just Dean being in the hospital, he guessed something must have happened once they'd left the motel room.

About half an hour later, she came back. Sam watched her as she walked down the corridor towards him, her face was completely blank. The blood was gone from her hands and face, leaving only the deep gash just below her hairline being held together with stitches. She dropped into one of the chairs beside him silently, not even looking at him. "Kate?" Sam pressed her gently. "What happened?"

"Dean came after me but I just walked off, I yelled at him and we had another argument. He walked off in one direction and I went off in the other." She stopped and looked down at her lap for a few seconds. "Then these guys ran past, one of them had a knife.."

"Kate.." Sam trailed off, not being able to think of anything to say to her.

"I don't know what happened Sam. Just some random, crappy, drunken act of violence." She added blankly.

"Why didn't you tell me any of this earlier?"

She shrugged, thinking over what she should say to him. "I said some horrible stuff to him." She admitted quietly.

"Hey, you didn't mean it." Sam said softly. "Dean knows that."

"Sam, what if I can''t take it back?"

"Look, whatever you said to him, I'm sure he'll get over it."

"I told him I hated him." She whispered, tears filling up in her eyes.

"You what?" He asked her, sounding more shocked than he'd intended to. He had never heard either of them seriously say that to the other before, he couldn't imagine any of them ever saying it.

Kate could practically feel her brother staring at her, his eyes wide. "It just kinda.. came out. I didn't mean it."

"Kate-"

"What if he doesn't forgive me?" She asked, finally looking up at him. He sighed as he saw the pain and guilt in her face.

"He said some pretty mean stuff to you as well, have you forgiven him?"

She frowned slightly at the question. "Sam-"

"Of course you have, you didn't give it a second thought did you? Everything's going to be fine, trust me."

"Dean Smith's family?" A voice asked from beside them. They both looked up to see Dean's doctor standing beside his door looking between them both, curiously glancing at Kate's forehead before looking towards at Sam.

"How is he?" Sam asked quickly, standing to face him.

"We've managed to patch up the stab wound but your brother did lose a lot of blood, it was pretty touch and go for a while. We won't know anything else until he wakes up I'm afraid."

"When will that be?" Kate asked, noticing the uncomfortable and sympathetic look wash over his face. "He's gonna wake up, right?"

"It's hard to say, we just don't know. I'm sorry." Kate felt her chest tighten at the thought of her brother not waking up. She placed a hand over her mouth to try and hold back the sobs that she could feel building up, turning to Sam's chest. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a strong hug, rubbing a hand up and down her back. The doctor looked between them sadly. "You can go in and see him if you like."

"Thanks." Sam said quietly as he turned and walked away from them. Kate pulled back and looked up at Sam as he turned to the room, stopping at the door when he realised that his sister wasn't behind him. "You coming?" He asked softly.

She stood still and shook her head a little. "I can't. Sam, I'm sorry." She whispered, turning and walking quickly down the hallway. Sam opened his mouth to call after her but stopped, watching sadly as she ran through the double doors beside the reception desk and disappeared from sight. He slowly pushed open the door in front of him to find Dean sleeping, breathing through a tube with all sorts of wires attached to him, the only sound coming from the steady beeping of his heart monitor. Sam looked over his pale face for a minute before moving forwards and collapsing into the chair beside the bed.

"Don't do this Dean. Not now." He whispered. "You gotta wake up bro, we need you." He looked down and shook his head in despair, wondering why stuff like this always had to happen to them. Sam sat and watched Dean sleep for about an hour before his mind drifted back to his sister. He knew that he should go and find her but someone needed to be here for Dean. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Hey Cas, it's Sam.. Listen, I need some help.. Please?"

"I'm here Sam." A familiar, deep voice came from behind him.

Sam turned to look at Castiel and managed a weak smile. "Hey." He said simply.

"What happened to him?" Castiel asked curiously as he moved to sit in the chair opposite Sam's.

"He was stabbed, I don't really know much about it to be honest with you." Castiel nodded slowly, obviously sensing that Sam knew more than he was letting on. "Anyway, I uh, I need you to find Kate. She needs someone right now, and so does Dean."

"Where is she?"

"Uh, she'll probably be at the motel, if not, try the closest bar." He muttered. "Just.. don't leave her on her own."

"I'll find her." Castiel replied flatly. "Call me if you need anything."

"Thanks Cas." He said quietly before watching as the angel vanished before him.

Kate sat on the middle of one of the motel beds, her legs crossed with her elbows rested on her knees. She twisted her phone around in her hands, the same way she had been doing for the past hour. She stopped and looked down at it, quickly finding Sam's number, once again contemplating whether or not to call him. The sound of fluttering wings made her jump slightly before she looked up to the familiar face of Castiel, standing in the middle of the room. She stood up from the bed and placed her phone down on the table. "Cas? What are you doing here?"

"Sam called me, he said you might need someone to be here." She nodded and looked away, not really in the mood to have to talk to anyone right now. "Why aren't you at the hospital?"

"I just.." She shook her head and sighed. "I can't."

Castiel frowned in confusion. "Don't you want to see him?"

"Of course I want to see him."

He only frowned harder. "Then why don't you come with me?"

"Because he won't want to see me." She said quietly.

"Kate, you're his sister, of course he'll want to see you."

She looked up at him carefully, tilting her head to the side. "Sam really didn't tell you anything did he?" He shook his head. "I just can't, I know it doesn't make sense to you but.."

He nodded slowly. "Okay, I'm not going to make you go. But your brother told me not to leave you on your own either.. So you might as well talk to me."

She shook her head to herself. "It's weird how human you are these days.." She muttered.

"So why won't you go and see him?"

"It's my fault Cas, I bailed and he-" She stopped, looking down at her boots.

"You didn't mean for it to happen, you didn't know."

"Oh come on, you know Dean as well as I do. He had a fight with me, he was pissed and he was upset. He went to that bar looking for a fight, like he alway does when he gets into that mood. He was there because of me." She ran a hand over her face and calmed her voice slightly. "What if he doesn't wake up Cas?"

"He will."

"You don't know that." She took a deep breath as she felt the tears fill up in her eyes again. "I can't go through losing him again Cas, I-" She stopped as her breath hitched, the tears now falling down her cheeks.

Completely unsure of what to say to her, Castiel simply took a step forwards and placed his arms around her, the way he had seen Sam and Dean do many times in the past. "He'll be fine Kate, trust me."

He felt her hands grip the back of his trench coat as she hugged him back. "How do you know that?"

"Because it's Dean. And Dean's always fine, he's tough." He pulled back and offered a slight smile. "You know, I remember the last time you were in the hospital, after you were attacked. All Dean did was blame himself."

"That wasn't his fault."

"No, just like this isn't yours."

Kate nodded slowly, completely unconvinced, and wiped her face with her sleeve. She honestly felt nothing but awkward after standing and crying in front of Castiel. She glanced down at her hands, still tinted with Dean's blood. "Hey, I'm gonna take a shower." She muttered, turning to the bathroom, stopping at the door and looking back at him. "Can you go see Sam? Make sure he's okay?"

"Of course." He smiled. "I'll see you later."

Castiel entered Dean's hospital room to find Sam sitting in the same seat he had been earlier that night. "Hey Cas." He said lightly, smiling at him as he took a seat opposite him.

"Hello Sam." He looked over Dean's sleeping form slowly. "How is he?"

"No change." He muttered. "How's Kate doing?"

"She's worried about him. She's blaming herself."

Sam sighed and nodded, not at all surprised by that. He was pretty sure that was a Winchester thing, blaming yourself for something that was anything but your fault. "Can you keep an eye on her for me? Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

He frowned slightly. "Like what?"

"Like if she goes anywhere, mainly a bar, make sure you go with her. You know how she gets."

Castiel looked up at him and smiled. "Like Dean."

Sam breathed out a laugh. "Like Dean." He agreed.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes until Castiel looked up at Sam. "Are you okay Sam?" He asked curiously.

Sam looked up and shrugged. "I'm fine. I mean, as fine as you can be in this situation but.. yeah, I'm good." He smiled the best he could, admittedly not that much. Between worrying about Dean and worrying about Kate, he hadn't really spent much time thinking about how he was.

"You should go back to the motel Sam. You need sleep. I can stay with your brother."

"I'll be fine, maybe I'll go back later." He answered lightly. "Thanks though, for all of it. I mean, you don't have to do all of this."

"Well, I want to. Besides, even if I didn't, I made a promise to your brother."

Sam looked up at him and smirked at his vivid statement. "What?"

"A while ago, I promised Dean that if anything happened to him I'd watch out for you and your sister."

"You did?" He smiled and looked down at Dean. Even when he was unconscious in a hospital bed, he still made sure that there was someone watching out for them. He shook his head to himself and ran a hand over his face, he needed to wake up.

_Hey guys! Thanks again for reading and for the amazing support, it all means so much!  
By the way, I think this is possibly one of the longest chapters I've ever written, not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing ;) But thanks again and maybe let me know what you thought? Love you all! :) _


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning, Sam walked into the motel room to find it empty. He closed the door behind himself and pulled out his phone, stopping when he noticed Kate's phone was lying on the table beside him. Slightly annoyed that she'd gone off somewhere and not bothered taking her phone with her, he shoved his own phone back into his jacket before heading towards the bathroom to take a shower. He came out of the bathroom about ten minutes later and changed into some clean clothes. He was pulling on his jacket when Kate came back to the room, her clothes covered in blood and dirt, his eyes went wide as he saw her. "What the hell happened to you?" He demanded, all of his annoyance quickly changing to concern.

Kate looked down at herself and grimaced slightly. "I don't know if you remember Sam, but we left a bunch of dead bodies up at that barn yesterday. Someone had to get rid of them before they were found." Sam sighed heavily and threw her an apologetic look. "How is he?" She asked, her voice becoming softer as she placed her bag on the table.

"The same." He answered glumly. "Cas is with him now but.. I don't know Kate."

Kate looked up at him carefully. He looked a mixture of someone who'd just had their puppy shot and someone who hadn't had any rest in a month. "Have you had any sleep Sam?" She asked gently, pulling off her jacket and wiping her hands on the back of her jeans.

He looked down at her and smiled. "Let's just say, I got the same amount that you did last night."

"That'd be none then." She muttered.

"Right. Look, I better go." He said quietly, slightly reluctant to leave her alone again. "You sure you won't come?"

"What, covered in vampire guts?" Sam looked down at her sadly and sighed in defeat.

"Kate, he's your brother, why can't you just go see him?"

"Sam." She shook her head, turning her back to him. "I just can't do it."

"You have to know that he isn't gonna be mad at you when he wakes up. I'll bet you he doesn't even remember having the fight."

She turned to face him, the pain now clear in her voice. "And what if he doesn't wake up? Huh?"

"Don't say that."

"No, seriously Sam. An apology isn't worth anything to him if he's not awake to hear it." She stopped and ran a hand through her hair. "What if one of the last things I said to him was that I hated him?"

"Okay, you need to stop." He rested a hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "You're getting yourself more upset than you need to be. He's gonna be fine."

"Yeah." She muttered. "You should go. Call me, if he wakes up.. Or anything."

"Sure." He lightly kissed the top of her head before making his way to the door and leaving the room.

As the door closed, Kate let her small smile fade to practically nothing. She dropped down onto one of the beds and let out a deep breath, closing her eyes and resting her forehead in her hands. "Alright I feel like an idiot doing this but, if there's anyone up there that still cares in the slightest.. Please.. I'm begging you, preferably not one of the dick angels but.. I'll take what I can get.. Please.. Just help him." She sighed deeply and opened her eyes, giving a slight laugh when nothing happened, not that she'd actually expected it to. "Nice one Kate, you've officially lost your mind." She muttered to herself before heading to the bathroom to take a shower.

Sam arrived back at the hospital about twenty minutes after he'd left the motel. He sighed heavily as he entered Dean's room, taking the seat opposite Castiel and giving him a tired smile. "No change then?" Sam asked quietly, already knowing what the answer would be.

Castiel simply shook his head, his eyes still on Dean. "How's Kate?"

"She's worried about Dean." He shrugged. "I don't know Cas. I think she's gotten it into her head that he's gonna be pissed when he wakes up. And then I think there's a part of her that doesn't even think he will." He added quietly, thinking back to the completely defeated look she'd had on her face when he'd seen her. "I think she just needs some space to herself for a while, she'll call if she needs something."

_Kate walked down the hallway of the hospital and stopped outside of Dean's room. She slowly reached out a hand towards the door handle, stopping when she noticed that her hands were covered in blood. As she walked into the room, she found Dean lying on the floor back in the clothes he had been wearing when he'd been stabbed, with blood once again pouring from his stomach. She fell to her knees beside him and looked down at his face. His eyes were staring up at her but there was no life in them, his whole body was still. _

As her eyes snapped open, she realised she'd fallen asleep at the table. She groaned and sat up straight, rubbing her eyes and letting out a long sigh as she pushed the dream to the back of her mind. Reaching over the table for her phone, she glanced at the time, 7:23PM. She ran a hand over her face and leaned back in her chair for a couple of minutes, thinking over going to the hospital. It wasn't like she didn't want to see them, but she couldn't look at Dean without thinking about the look on his face during their fight. And she was pretty sure that if Sam had seen them, or heard what she'd said to him, he wouldn't have been as easy on her as he was being. She sighed as her eyes fell to the empty whiskey bottle on the table beside her, tapping her nails against it and glancing over at the door.

Castiel appeared in the room about half an hour after Kate had woken up to find her sitting on one of the beds, one leg stretched out in front of her as she laced up her boot. She barely glanced at him before looking back down. "Where are you going?" He asked her cautiously.

"To a bar, to get wasted." She replied casually as she hopped off the bed and picked up her jacket. Kate looked up at him and noticed the small frown forming on his face, realising why he was here. "Look, if Sam sent you here to babysit me, there's really no need. I can assure you, I won't do anything stupid." She said, shoving her phone into her back pocket and picking up the door key from the table. "But you're welcome to come." She added lightly, pulling open the door and walking out of the room. He frowned slightly but followed her from the room, pulling the door closed and walking faster to catch up with her. She shoved her hands into her pockets and kept her gaze fixed on the ground ahead of them. "How's Sam doing?"

"He's okay, he's worried about you. And you're obviously worried about him."

"Yeah." She muttered, not liking where she knew this conversation was going.

"Why don't you go and talk to him?" He asked.

Kate shook her head and turned to the first bar she saw, determined not to have that talk again. They walked into the crowded room and took a seat at the bar beside each other, Kate ordering them both a beer as well as a line of shots. Castiel took a drink of the beer and glanced at her warily as she downed three of the shots. "You should slow down." He told her hesitantly. "You're starting to drink like your brother."

"Right." She laughed lightly. "No one drinks like Dean." She looked down at the beer bottle as she picked at the label with her nails. "Hey, you think he'll wake up right? I mean.."

"I don't know Kate." He admitted quietly. "But Dean isn't one to give up. I'm sure he'll pull through."

"Yeah." She looked away from him across the busy room, her gaze stopping at the other side of the bar. "Hey." She said seriously, nudging him in the arm. "Cas, that's him."

He followed her eyes to the other side of the bar and frowned, not understanding what she was getting at. "Who?"

"Him, over there." She nodded at one of the guys towards the back of the room. "That's the one that stabbed Dean."

He looked from the guy to her, a serious frown on his face. "You're sure?"

"Yeah, definitely."

He nodded slowly, looking at her face carefully. "What are you going to do?"

She swallowed another one of her shots as she thought about it. "I'm going to follow him. And then I'm gonna kick his ass."

"Well I'm coming with you."

"Sure." She mumbled, downing another shot.

They sat in the bar for about an hour before the guy finally got up to leave. They looked at each other before making their way towards the door and following him down the street. The guy rounded a corner and stopped at one of the houses, unlocking the door and heading inside. "Are you sure that you want to do this?" Castiel asked slowly, both of them looking up at the house.

"Of course I do." She muttered, taking a couple of steps forwards an banging on the door with the side of her fist. "What do you expect me to do? Just leave him after-" She cut herself off as the door was pulled open.

A tall man with dirty blonde hair opened the door and looked between them, narrowing his eyes at Kate. "Have we met before?" He asked curiously.

"Not exactly.." She said casually, pushing past him and wandering into his house, quickly followed by Castiel. The guy opened his mouth to argue but stopped as she turned to him, her face hard. "I was the girl you and your buddies ran past a couple of nights ago.. You know, after you'd stabbed that guy."

He stood completely still for a minute, his face drained of colour. "I don't know what you're talking about." He mumbled, not looking either of them.

"You don't remember? Brown hair, leather jacket.." He looked up at her, the horror plastered over his face. "Yeah, I thought you would.. Ya know, since you plunged a knife into his stomach."

"Look, it was an accident. He-"

"I don't care." Kate cut him off, punching him in the face. She punched him a few times until he stumbled back and fell to the ground. She kicked him in the stomach, the only thing on her mind now was the sight of Dean lying on the ground covered in blood. She kicked him again until she was pulled away from him forcefully.

"Kate, calm down." Castiel said as he grabbed her around the arms and pulled her back to the other side of the room. "Go, I'll finish it." He said quietly.

"Cas-"

"You don't need to be killing anyone right now. If you want him dead, I'll take care of it." She looked down at the guy and shook her head before turning and walking out of the room, slamming the door closed behind herself. Castiel looked down at him, his face emotionless as he reached down and grabbed the front of his jacket, pulling him up to face him. He slammed his back into the wall and punched him hard in the face, glaring at him. "Listen to me, if he doesn't make it, I will find you. I'll find you and I'll make sure you go down with him." He warned. "Understand?" He gave a slight nod before Castiel punched him to the ground, knocking him out.

He stood up straighter and gave the guy one last look before turning to the door and leaving the house. He walked out onto the street and looked around, not seeing Kate. Shaking his head to himself, he vanished from the street and reappeared in Dean's hospital room, causing Sam to jump slightly. "Hey Cas." He said quietly, giving him a small smile as he took a seat opposite him.

"Hello Sam." He replied simply.

Sam frowned, noticing the angel's hesitation to say anything else. "Everything okay? Where's Kate?"

"I think she went back to the motel, I got the feeling that she wanted to be on her own for a while."

"Why, what happened?"

"She found him, the one who stabbed your brother."

Sam's head snapped up to look at him. "She what? Where?"

"We went to a bar." Sam raised his eyebrows questioningly. "You told me not to let her go anywhere alone." He added simply.

"Right, go on."

"We were in there and she told me that one of them in there was the one who stabbed Dean. So we followed him home."

"Cas, what did she do?"

"She beat him, quite badly. Let out a lot of her anger I think."

Sam shook his head. "I swear, she gets more and more like Dean everyday." He mumbled. "She didn't kill him did she?" He added, realising that he wouldn't be all that bothered if she had done.

"No, he's alive. But she got her point across."

Sam smiled slightly, taking comfort in the fact that at least she wasn't sitting in the motel bottling up her feelings and drinking whiskey. The two of them sat there for the rest of the night, not really talking much. After a while, Sam fell into a light sleep in his chair, his head rested against one of his fists. Castiel looked over him, a sympathetic frown forming on his face. He could practically see the desperation in Sam's face for his brother to wake up. He silently raised from his seat and picked up the spare blanket that was lying on the end of Dean's bed, gently placing it over Sam before he vanished from the room.

Castiel reappeared in the motel room to find Kate sitting on one of the beds, absent-mindedly picking at her nails while she stared blankly at the tv, almost sure that if he turned it off, she wouldn't have been able to tell him what had been on it. "Hello Kate." He said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Hey Cas." She said slowly, standing up and flicking off the tv. "Listen, I'm sorry about bailing on you earlier.. I just needed some space."

"Don't worry about it." He gave her a small smile. "I didn't tell you earlier.. But you know, I heard you this morning. Praying."

She looked away from him, a sudden sense of embarrassment washing over her. "Yeah well, it didn't work did it? Dean's still lying in a hospital bed unconscious."

"You still did it. You must have some faith, deep down."

"I dunno.. Maybe way, way, way deep down somewhere." She shrugged and gave a dry laugh. "You know I've never done that before, prayed to something other than you. How sad is that huh? Twenty-four years without an ounce of faith.. I mean, I used to think that Sam had enough for the three of us but now.." She trailed off and shook her head. "Things just suck now."

Castiel frowned and looked up, shaking his head. "I don't blame you for not having faith in them Kate. Sometimes, neither do I."

She looked up at him sympathetically. "Must be hard, loosing faith in your family like that."

"Yeah, I guess it is." He frowned to himself. "Do you need anything?" He asked her, the question an obvious attempt to change the subject.

Kate looked down for a second and sighed. "Actually yeah.. Can you take me to the hospital?" He looked up at her curiously. "I wanna see them."

"Of course I will." He touched her head gently, taking them to the hallway outside of Dean's room. "I'll be out here if you need anything."

Kate nodded and turned towards the door, pushing it open and closing it softly behind herself. She crossed the small room and took a seat on the edge of Dean's bed, placing her hand gently over one of his. "Hey Dean." She whispered. "Look I'm sorry that I haven't been here.. I need you to wake up for us alright? Please Dean, you promised you wouldn't do this again." Her eyes to fell to where Sam slept in the chair beside the bed. Through the dark, she could clearly see the dark circles beginning to form under his eyes . She felt a twinge of guilt in her stomach for not staying at the hospital with them but pushed it aside as she leaned down, kissing Dean lightly on the head. "I'm counting on you bro, we need you." She whispered, turning to Sam and smiling at him sadly, being sure not to wake him.

Castiel looked up as she walked out of the room, closing the door softly and leaning her back against it. He sighed sadly when he noticed the unshed tears in her eyes. "Are you alright?" He asked her quietly.

She shook her head and looked up at him. "I can't lose him Cas." She whispered. "I can't-"

"I know." He replied softly. "You're not going to, he's going to be fine."

She turned and looked through the small window in the door. "I hope you're right Cas, I really do."

_Thank you so much for the support again guys, you're all amazing! :) _


	8. Chapter 8

"C'mon Dean, this is getting rediculous now." Sam said to his brother quietly. "I mean, I'd call six days rested.. Time to get your lazy ass up don't you think? Please Dean." He shook his head to himself and sighed when he still received no response from his brother. Six days had passed by since he'd been stabbed and he was still showing no sign that he was on his way to waking up. Sam was becoming more and more concerned as the days went by, a part of him hoping this would be the day his brother woke up, but a part afraid this would be the day the doctors told him that he wouldn't.

He was staring blankly at Dean's face, completely lost in his own thoughts, when his green eyes suddenly shot open to look at him. "Dean?" Sam shot to his feet as Dean began choking on the tube stuck down his throat, a rush of panic washing over him. He ran to the door shouting for someone to help him until the doctors made their way to the room and slammed the door closed.

Sam barely even breathed for the next ten minutes, standing outside of Dean's room with his eyes fixed on the door. He tried to convince himself that he was going to be fine, he'd seen his eyes open, that had to be a good sign. He sighed and tried to ignore the knot of panic in his stomach. He honestly felt sick. He snapped from his thoughts as the doctor walked out of the room, giving Sam a reassuring smile. "Good news, your brother's awake."

Sam genuinely smiled for the first time in the past week. "He's gonna be okay?"

"He's going to be fine. He needs to take it easy for a couple of weeks but yes, he will be."

"Can I go see him?"

"Sure." He smiled again before heading down the hallway away from the room.

As Sam pushed open the door, Dean's heavy green eyes moved to focus on him. "Sammy?" His voice came out in a low whisper.

"Yeah, hey." He smiled at him as he took a seat in the chair he'd been sitting in earlier. "You alright bro?" He asked, the worry clear in his voice.

Dean nodded slowly. "I'm alright."

Sam breathed out a laugh of relief and grinned at him. "Man, you really scared the hell out of me this time." Dean seemed to come around slightly as he gave Sam a weak smile. "Do you remember what happened?"

"I remember yelling at Kate.." He trailed off, frowning as he tried to work through the blurry memories from the night that it happened.

_"Kate!" He yelled after her, shaking his head as she walked faster. "Hey!" He could feel himself getting angry again. "You better stop right now or I swear-"_

_She turned sharply to face him, stopping Dean dead in his tracks so he didn't crash into her. "What Dean? What?"_

_He shook his head, he seriously wasn't in the mood for this tonight. "You know what, I can't even be bothered with you anymore. Go be a bitch with someone who gives a damn." He regretted saying it the second it came out of his mouth but he held her glare until she turned her back on him and walked away. He watched her walk down the street, considering going after her for a minute but he knew that they were both too mad to anything sorted between them right now, anything they said to each other tonight was just going to make it worse. He sighed heavily to himself before he turned and walked in the opposite direction. _

_As he walked towards a bar, he banged into some guy. "Dick." The guy muttered. _

_Dean stopped walking and smirked to himself, turning to face him. "What'd you say?"_

_The guy glared at him. "I said, dick. You got a problem with that?"_

_Dean looked from him to the three guys standing behind him and laughed. "Yeah, maybe I do." _

_The guy smirked at him before rasing a fist to punch him. Dean simply ducked and punched him to the ground. He was easily managing to fight the four of them until another two guys came out of the bar, grabbing Dean from behind while another plunged a knife into his stomach. He vaguely remembered hearing them yell at each other but then that was it.. _

"Dean?" Sam pressed.

"Yeah, I remember." He muttered. "In my defence, there were six of them."

Sam shook his head. "You're an idiot Dean, and you call Kate for being reckless."

Dean thought back to the fight they'd had, remembering everything that had happened and everything he'd said to her. "Where is she? I need to talk to her."

He looked down, unsure of how to answer him. "She won't come, she can't face it."

Dean frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Look, I don't fully know what happened between you after you left but.. from what she's told me, I think she's feeling pretty guilty about it."

Dean shook his head. "It wasn't her fault."

"No, but that's another thing.." Dean raised his eyebrows. "She found the guy that stabbed you."

"Is she alright?"

"Yeah, but he's not. Cas was with her but, from what he told me, sounds like she went crazy. She would've beaten him to death if he wasn't there."

"Huh, guess we should be sending him a muffin basket for taking care of you both." He muttered sarcastically.

Sam smiled. "Well, apparently he was just keeping a promise he'd made to you."

Dean thought back and realised what Sam was talking about. "Ah, he told you about that?"

"Yeah, how come you never said anything?"

"I dunno.. I just figured after the last time I left you two alone, when you went demonic and Kate went all Lindsay Lohan, I'd take out some extra insurance." He shrugged lightly. "Besides, you didn't think I was gonna leave you morons unsupervised did you?"

"You're such an idiot." Sam said as a smile spread across his face. "I've missed you man."

"Yeah." He smirked lightly. "I can imagine."

"I see being stabbed hasn't affected your modesty."

"Well, what can I say Sammy, I'm an awesome brother." He said lightly.

"You're right you know." Sam said seriously. "I mean, everything you do for us.." He trailed off as his mind wandered to the one place Sam had spent the last six days avoiding, the thought of Dean actually dying.

Dean looked over his brother's face, understanding what he was thinking about. "Hey, Sam I'm fine. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

"Yeah, I know."

Dean's eyes moved from Sam to the IV drips attatched to his arm, frowning slightly at them. "Dammit, what the hell kind of drugs am I on here?" He sighed heavily, feeling himself getting slightly dizzy as he began to drift off again. Sam only laughed, not giving him an answer. Dean could clearly see how tired he was, the dark circles under his eyes and the way his shoulders were slouched down. "Sammy, how long've you been sitting there? You look exhausted."

"Not that long really." Sam shrugged like it was no big deal.

Dean raised an eyebrow to him and smiled. "So that's what, six days that you've gone without getting a proper nights sleep?"

"Dean, it's fine. Really, I'm good."

"Look, I appreciate it bro, I do. But I don't imagine that it's much fun sitting there and watching me sleep, especially after six days of it. You need some sleep, and some food."

Sam looked over him carefully, reluctant to leave him alone. "You sure, I don't mind staying."

"You're so friggin' stubborn Sam." He smirked, reaching out and punching him lightly in the arm. "Go, I'll still be here when you get back."

Sam looked down as he thought about it, eventually meeting Dean's gaze and giving in. "Sure." He said quietly, getting to his feet and making his way to the door.

"Hey Sam?" Dean called after him.

Sam stopped at the doorway and turned to look at him. "Yeah?"

"Thanks bro."

He smiled at him and nodded. "I'll see you later."

Sam headed back to the motel to find Kate sitting at the table, looking like she was doing some research. He looked over her shoulder at the papers and frowned, not sure on whether he wanted to know what was going on. "What are you doing?" He asked curiously.

"Oh, Bobby called to see how Dean was. He gave me some stuff to be getting on with." She said casually, looking up at him. She frowned slightly when she saw the smile on his face. "What's up with you?"

"Dean's awake." He answered, unable to keep the grin breaking out across his face.

She breathed out a small laugh. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's good." He smiled. "You need to go and see him."

"Sam-"

"He's worried sick about you Kate, you need to see him." He muttered, tossing her the keys to the Impala.

She sighed and dropped the pen down on the table. "Yeah, I know."

Sam smiled at her and held out a jacket to her before she changed her mind about it again. She took the jacket and offered a small smile before she headed to the door.

Dean opened his eyes as he heard the door to his room open. Kate leant against the door frame and managed a weak smile. She looked tired, he could tell she hadn't been getting much sleep. "Hey you." He said with a smile.

"Hey." She whispered, tears filling up in her eyes. He patted the bed beside him, pretty sure that she was debating between sitting down and leaving. She looked at him for a second before moving to sit down beside him.

"You know, I get this weird feeling you've been avoiding me." He said slowly.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered. "Dean I-" She stopped, tears now falling silently down her cheeks. He reached out and pulled her down to lie next to him, letting her cry onto his shoulder.

"Don't be sorry, it was my fault. I should never have said what I said to you.. You know I didn't mean it, right?" He asked her guiltily.

She nodded against his shoulder. "I don't hate you." She said quietly as she cried harder.

"I know you don't." She pulled back and looked down at him. He reached up and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "You look awful by the way." He smirked, looking over her pale face, black circles under her eyes.

She laughed and nodded. "You don't look so hip yourself.. I missed you Dean."

"I know.. You're okay thought right?" He asked, raising an eyebrow when Kate began laughing. "What's so funny?"

"You. You get stabbed in the stomach, almost die and end up in a hospital for a week.. And you're asking me if I'm okay?" Dean shrugged innocently, not seeing the big deal. "But yeah, I'm fine."

He smiled at her and nodded. "So, I believe you've been fighting for me while I've been out." She looked up at him and frowned in confusion. "Sam told me what you did to the guy."

"Oh, that.. Yeah." She shrugged. "It's no big deal."

They both looked over at the door as it opened, Sam walking through it and giving them a small smile. "I thought I sent you to get some sleep?" Dean said to him lightly.

"You did." He replied simply, taking a seat in the chair beside the bed and looking between the two of them carefully. "We all good?"

Dean nodded and squeezed Kate's hand lightly. "Course we're good."

Sam smiled to himself and nodded. "Glad to hear it."

"Right, so let's get out of here."

Sam scoffed. "Yeah right. Dean you're in no fit shape to go anywhere."

"Oh c'mon, I'm fine. I've been stuck in this place for almost a week, it's suffocating me." He said dramatically, earning him an eye roll from both Sam and Kate.

"How? Dude, you've been unconscious. You know, from that huge gash in your stomach."

"Don't exaggerate. I told you, I'll be fine."

Sam raised his eyebrows at Kate who simply smirked at him. "C'mon Sam, I mean if he says he's fine.. I'm sure he won't mind dragging his ass back to the motel, driving for the rest of the night in a cramped car, then taking on a hunt the second we find one.."

"You know on second thoughts, my stomach is pretty painful. One more night here's not gonna hurt. But one of you is going out to get me some real food, I'm not living on the crap they give you here."

Kate laughed and nodded at him. "I'll get right on that." She said lightly, standing up and heading towards the door. She smiled slightly to herself as she made her way down the hallway, feeling completely relieved that her brother was going to be okay.

She stepped into the empty elevator and sighed deeply, turning to the mirror and grimacing at her tired face. "Jesus." She jumped as someone appeared behind her, turning quickly to face them. "Cas, you scared the hell out of me."

"Sorry." He said simply, taking a step back from her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." She smiled. "I was gonna call you actually."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just.. I wanted to tell you thanks."

He tilted his head to the side and frowned. "What for?"

"I wouldn't have gotten through the last week without you. And neither would Sam.. So, thanks."

"You're welcome." He smiled. "Where are you going anyway?"

"I'm gonna go pick up some food for him, why don't you go see him? I'm sure he'll want to talk to you."

Castiel smiled and nodded, disappearing and heading to Dean's room. He reappeared in Dean's room, looking around slowly. "Hello Dean." He said casually.

Dean looked up at him and smiled. "Hey buddy."

"Where's your brother?"

"He went to get some coffee." He said lightly as Castiel took a seat beside him. "Hey, thank you. For, you know, looking after them while I was out."

"Well, I told you I would." Dean grinned at him and nodded. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, awesome." He smirked. "I'll be alright once I get out of here, don't worry about it."

Castiel smiled. "I'm glad you're okay Dean."

"Yeah, me too." He said with a laugh.

_Thank you so much for the support again guys, and thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed! :-) _


	9. Chapter 9

Dean rolled over in bed and rested his arm over his face, refusing to open his eyes and attempting to ignore the irritating sound of Sam typing on his laptop. Deciding that he wasn't getting any more sleep he sat up with a groan, rubbing a hand over his stomach and grimacing at the slight pain where his stitches were. "Mornin'." He grumbled as he rolled out of bed and dragged his feet towards the table where Sam was sitting. He'd been out of the hospital for three days now but his stomach was still painful, despite how many painkillers he was taking. "Do you have to do that so early?" He mumbled as he dropped into the chair opposite Sam's.

"Yes." He answered simply, not looking away from the screen. "Do you have to do that?"

Dean looked at him and frowned. "Do I have to do what?"

"Breathe."

Dean smirked and rolled his eyes. "Nice one Sam, really."

Sam laughed and looked up at him. "What time did you get to sleep this morning? Like four?"

Dean shrugged. "Something like that, why?"

"Just asking, were you in pain or something?"

"Little bit." He shrugged it off like it wasn't a big deal. "It's fine."

Sam rolled his eyes skeptically. "Yeah, sure it is."

"I'm fine Sammy, seriously." He said, a small smile forming on his face at Sam's constant supervision of him since he'd left the hospital. He smirked to himself as he picked up a pillow from the empty chair next to his and threw it at Kate, waking her up. She sat up and glared at him before climbing out of bed and crossing the room towards the table, slapping Dean in the back of the head as she passed. "Ah, you can't hit me, I'm a stab victim."

She dropped into the empty chair and raised an eyebrow at him. "Still? How long are you gonna play that card?"

"Until you two stop fussing about it I guess." He shrugged at her. "We'll see."

"Right." She rolled her eyes at him before turning her attention to Sam. "So, you found us a hunt yet?"

Sam looked back to his laptop and shook his head. "Nothing's really sticking out, I'll keep looking."

"Sure." She said lightly as she stood up and dropped back onto her bed, turning on the tv. "Hey, see if you can find us a wendigo." Sam and Dean both looked up at her, raising their eyebrows. "What? We haven't hunted one for a while.. Is it so bad to want a change?"

Dean turned to Sam and smirked. "I love how a twenty-four year old, sitting in bed and watching cartoons, can so casually say that she's in the mood to hunt a wendigo."

Sam laughed and nodded. "Only her." He looked up as his phone rang, reaching over to his jacket and pulling it out of his pocket before answering it.

Dean looked from Sam to Kate and sighed. He could tell that somewhere deep down she was still feeling guilty about what had happened to him, despite how many times he'd told her that he didn't blame her. He got to his feet and moved to sit on the bed beside her, smirking at the tv. "You know that you're supposed to be an adult now right?"

Kate raised an eyebrow. "What's your point?"

"These shows were made for kids, sis, little kids."

"Meh, what can I say? I'm young at heart."

Dean laughed at her. "You're an idiot more like." They both looked up as Sam hung up the phone. "Good news or bad news?" Dean asked casually.

"Neither actually, a case." He answered, closing his laptop and looking between them. "That was Bobby, said there's a hunter one state over who's bailing on a hunt, didn't say why.. Said he'd email us the details and we just need to burn the bones."

"So no wendigo then?" Kate muttered, turning off the tv and getting to her feet. "That sucks."

"Yeah, sorry sis." He smirked. "I promise you, I'll find you a wendigo the second we're done with it."

"Awesome." She smirked, bumping his fist with hers as she passed on the way to the bathroom.

The three of them arrived in the small town a few hours later. "So what's the story?" Dean muttered to Sam as he pulled into another motel's parking lot.

"Uh, ghost of some woman.." He looked down at the papers on his lap and skimmed over them again. "Murdered by her husband a few weeks ago, drowned her in their pool.. So she came back and ripped out his lungs. Now she's sticking around the house where it happened."

"Huh, sounds simple enough.. So all we've gotta do is find the grave, burn the bones and we're out of here right?"

"Yeah, that's where it gets complicated." Sam muttered.

Dean nodded to himself and sighed. "Of course it does, what's the complicated part?"

"She was cremated, the only thing the guy told Bobby was that there was something worth burning in the house, didn't say what." He sighed and picked up another sheet. "And by the looks of this, they weren't short on money, it's a big place."

"Of course it is, they had their own pool." Dean smirked to himself. "Least if they were rich, we can do some looting while we're there."

Sam supressed a smirk and shook his head. "You're a terrible person, you know that right?"

Dean laughed to himself and nodded. "Yeah, I know. So, how about you two go get us checked in and I'll pick us up some food?" Dean suggested brightly. "Then we can go check out the creepy, dead rich chick."

"Sure." Sam smiled lightly before climbing out of the car with Kate and watching as Dean drove away.

Not long after Dean returned to the motel room, they headed to check out the house. They'd been looking around for anything that could be tying the ghost to the house for about an hour before Dean had finally had enough. "Alright, this is taking forever." He grumbled, dropping the box of junk he'd been going through down on the table. "Sam, we're gonna check upstairs. Kate, go check Jay-z's pool room, see if there's anything.. you know.. expensive looking." He added with a wink.

Sam rolled his eyes and shoved Dean in the arm before turning to follow him upstairs. "Be careful." He called over his shoulder.

Dean wandered into the first room upstairs and placed his gun down on the small table before pulling open a drawer and quickly looking through it. "You sure this is the right house Sam?" He asked casually, pushing it closed with a bang. "Does it not seem a little quiet? I mean, ghosts are usually a little more defensive when they've got people looking for something to waste them."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, way too quiet." He agreed, slowly looking around. "Someone's usually been thrown into a wall by now or something."

"It's-" Dean stopped at the sound of a splash downstairs and looked up at him seriously. "We had to jinx it." He muttered, breaking into a run to the stairs, Sam right behind him.

They barged through some double doors to find Kate just below the surface of the water, completely still. A pale woman made herself visible, showing herself standing beside Kate with a hand pressed to her head, holding her under the water. "Kate." Sam yelled, his eyes going wide before he raised his gun and shot the ghost through the face.

Dean wasted no time in jumping into the pool after her, grabbing her limp body in his arms and moving towards the side where Sam was on his knees waiting. He took her from Dean and lay her down in front of himself as Dean pushed himself up and knelt at the other side of her. "Is she breathing?" He asked Sam, his voice desperate.

Sam opened and closed his mouth in shock, unable to think straight enough to form words. He placed the back of his hand in front of her mouth and waited. "Dean, she's not breathing." He said helplessly, tapping the side of her face with his hand. "Kate? Hey, can you hear me sis?" The panic grew in his chest when she still didn't answer. "Dammit, we need to call her an ambulance."

"Like we have time for that." Dean muttered, pushing the hair from her face and leaning her head back slightly. "Press her chest." He stated simply.

Sam frowned in confusion before realising what his brother meant. Dean held her nose lightly before leaning down and breathing into her mouth as Sam pressed on her chest. They carried on for a couple of minutes without anything happening. They shared a quick, desperate look before Dean breathed into her mouth again.

Kate suddenly shot up, spluttering and coughing up water. Dean grabbed her and pulled her towards him tightly, rubbing a hand up and down her back and urging her not to throw up. She gripped one of Sam's hands in hers, squeezing it hard enough for him to feel pain. Her coughing became less violent as she calmed down, her breathing still heavy and uneven. "You alright?" Sam asked her, the worry etched into his voice.

She leant her back against Dean's chest, keeping her eyes fixed on Sam, and nodded slowly. "I'm alright." She breathed out, her body still shivering slightly. "I told you we should've gone for a wendigo." She muttered, closing her eyes and releasing a long, deep breath.

Sam allowed a small smile to form on his face as he breathed out a sigh of relief that she was okay. He looked up at Dean who was still holding her against him, one hand rested on her head with his other arm draped across her chest protectively, and nodded. "You know any way of slowly torturing a ghost Sam?" He almost growled out.

Sam ignored him and returned his attention to Kate. "You good to go?" She nodded and took his hands as he pulled her to her feet. "Okay, we need to find whatever it is keeping her here and burn it, fast."

"Hey." She held out an arm to them, a wet locket of hair in her hand. "Grabbed it out of the pool while the bitch tried to drown me."

"Remains." Dean shrugged. "Gross, but remains."

Sam nodded and pulled a lighter from his pocket, taking it from Kate just as Dean was thrown backwards across the room and into the wall. Kate lunged for Sam's gun which was still lying on the floor and shot the ghost. She turned as Sam set fire to the locket and smiled slightly. "Dean, you alright?" Sam asked, glancing over at his brother.

Dean groaned and stumbled to his feet, rubbing a hand over his head. "Yeah, I'm good."

Sam nodded and smiled to himself. "You guys think you can go one week without being either stabbed, drowned or hospitalized?"

"Not likely." Dean smirked. "Let's get out of here."

"Yeah, I'll grab the gun from upstairs and we'll go." Sam said lightly before turning towards the door and heading up the stairs.

Dean nodded and turned to Kate. "You okay?" He asked her seriously.

"Yeah, course I am." She smiled.

"Good." He muttered, taking a step towards her and throwing her over his shoulder.

"Dean, what the hell?" She yelled. "Put me down!"

"Sure." He grinned, throwing her into the water and genuinely laughing to himself.

She looked up at him and supressed a smirk of her own, shaking her head. "Why would you do that?" She asked, her voice clearly amused.

Dean shrugged. "The opportunity was there, I had to take it."

"Of course you did, just throw me in the creepy dead chick's pool." She rolled her eyes at him and grinned before holding out an arm. "Least you could do is pull me out."

He nodded and reached out, grabbing her hand. Kate gripped his hand and pulled him forwards into the pool before smacking him in the shoulder. "You're an idiot." She muttered, moving towards the edge and pushing herself up, quickly followed by Dean.

He opened his mouth to say something but turned quickly as the door swung open, three police officers walking through and pointing their guns at them. One of them stopped and looked between them curiously for a couple of seconds before shaking his head to himself. "You're both under arrest for breaking and entering."

Kate looked up at Dean and shook her head in disbelief, earing her an amused glare from him. She noticed him holding back a laugh as the police officers turned them around and placed handcuffs on their wrists. "You finding something funny here?"

"Both of you, shut up." One of the officers warned before Dean had a chance to answer her.

"I reiterate, you're an idiot." She mumbled as they were pushed through the door and outside to the waiting squad cars.

_Don't worry, they're not going to jail forever ;) So this one's f__or my friend Lauren who specifically asked for 'a chapter with cops and a swimming pool', hope you liked it ;-) And as always, a huge thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing, I'd be nowhere without you guys! :)_


	10. Chapter 10

"Son of a bitch." Kate swore under her breath as one of the police officers roughly pulled her through the doors to the cells by her arm. Dean had been taken inside first, after being booked and sent to the holding cells they had brought in Kate. "How about you try being a little more gentle?" She muttered.

"Shut it." The officer warned as he pushed her forwards, coming to a halt outside of the cell that Dean was already sitting inside. He unlocked it before shoving Kate through the door and slamming it closed right behind her.

"Hey." Dean rose to his feet, his protective instincts kicking in and a menacing glare on his face as he moved towards the bars. "You push her, you push me. Understand?" He said in a low voice, staring him dead in the face.

The officer looked between them and shook his head. "Whatever." He muttered before turning and walking away quickly, not looking Dean in the face as he passed.

Allowing a small smile to form on her face at her brother's constant over protectiveness, Kate sighed to herself. A prison cell really was the last place she'd wanted to spend the night, especially since both of them were still soaking wet from back at the house. Dean dropped back down onto the bed heavily as the police officer walked away from the cell, leaving them alone. He ran a hand over his face and glanced up at Kate who took a seat beside him, resting her feet in his lap. "What?" She asked innocently as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh no, don't you worry about it Kate, get comfortable." He muttered, shaking his head in amusement.

Kate rolled her eyes at him. "Well what else am I supposed to do? You got us arrested."

"Hold up, how did I get us arrested?" He asked defensively.

"I don't know." She muttered. "We've got to blame someone."

Dean smiled to himself and nodded. "Well it's not like they've got much of a case against us, we'll be out of here by morning." He said lightly.

"Unless we get Sam to come bail us out." Kate suggested.

Dean thought it over and shook his head. "Nah, I mean he went the whole of last week without sleeping properly, and I'm pretty sure he hasn't gotten much sleep since we left the hospital. A night off might do him good.. Besides, you telling me that you can think of a better way to spend your night than being locked up with me?"

She laughed and opened her mouth to answer, stopping when the doors to the cells opened again. They looked between each other before the sheriff made his way towards their cell, looking between the two of them with a slight frown on his face. "You know, I'm curious.." He began, a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I mean, I've seen a lot in my time but.. I don't think I've ever had a call like this one."

Dean scoffed and raised an eyebrow skeptically. "You've never had a breaking and entering call? How small is this town?"

The sheriff ignored his comment and continued. "I've never had people break into a crime scene, with guns, and then hold some sort of pool party in the same pool that a murder was committed less than a month ago." He said seriously, turning to Dean. "Not to mention that you were found with the dead guy's wallet on your possession. So what are you, robbers with a weird sense of humour or what?"

Kate looked up at Dean and raised an eyebrow. "You stole the guy's wallet? Seriously, you don't help matters do you?"

"Well it's not like he needs it." Dean muttered defensively.

Kate scoffed. "You're unbelievable."

They both looked back towards the sheriff who simply shook his head at them. "What kind of sickos are you two?"

"You'd be surprised how often we get asked that." Kate said lightly, giving him a weak smile.

"Something tells me I wouldn't." He mumbled. "You've got one phone call, between you."

Dean looked at Kate and nodded. "You do it."

Kate sighed and got to her feet, following the sheriff towards the phone. "Make it quick." He muttered to her as she began dialing Sam's number.

She shot a glare over her shoulder before returning her attention to the phone. _"Hello?" _Sam's voice answered quickly, something telling her that he'd probably been sitting by the phone waiting for one of them to call.

"Hey Sammy." She answered lightly.

_"Kate, what the hell happened?"_

"I dunno, someone called the cops and said they'd seen us breaking into the house." She told him casually.

_"Alright, so what's the plan then?"_

"Well Dean seems pretty certain that they'll let us out by morning so I don't know, just get some sleep or something and we'll see you tomorrow."

_"You sure? I don't mind coming to get you." _

"Nah it's fine, enjoy a night without us for once." She smirked to herself. "Peace and quiet for you."

_"Kate, I dunno.." _He said slowly.

She rolled her eyes at him sighed. "Sammy seriously, we'll be alright. Just, take a night off for once in your life But don't do anything crazy."

Sam let out a small laugh. _"Fine, but if you're not back by tomorrow I'm coming down there and getting you out alright?"_

"Alright, have a fun night Sam." She smirked to herself before hanging up the phone and turning back to the sheriff.

"That's how you use your one phone call?" He asked her, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Most people call someone for bail, or a lawyer."

Kate smirked at him. "Please, like we're not going to be out by morning. Who are you trying to kid here?"

The sheriff simply shook his head at her and turned to lead the way back to the cells. "You should watch your attitude with me lady, or you won't be out at all."

Kate rolled her eyes and walked back into the cell, giving him a sarcastic smile as he locked the door and walked away. "The cops are serious dicks in this town." She muttered as she dropped back down beside him, crossing her legs and leaning her head back against the wall with a sigh. "This sucks."

"Oh come on, it's not like this is the first time you've spent the night in a jail cell." Dean said lightly, she assumed in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Far from it."

"True." Kate looked up at him and smirked. "Hey you remember that time we got arrested for getting involved in that underground poker game, and it got raided by the cops. Then they called dad about it and we literally sat in a cell all night freaking out that he was going to murder us for it."

"Yeah, and when we got out the next morning he was all cool about it." He smiled slightly as he thought back. "I think he actually laughed at us for getting caught."

"He laughed at you, not me."

"Yeah, 'cause daddy's girl couldn't do any wrong in his eyes." He laughed. "You had the man wrapped around your little finger Kate."

Kate shrugged. "One of the perks of being adorable I guess." She let her smile fade slightly and looked away from him, keeping her eyes fixed on the floor. "I miss him Dean." She said quietly, quiet enough that if he didn't want to have the conversation he could pretend he hadn't heard.

"Yeah, I know you do." He said gently, squeezing her knee. "So do I."

She thought back to the time when she and Dean had hunted with their dad, before he'd gone missing and they'd gone to get Sam from Stanford. Sure they'd never been a perfect family, but back then she'd always been able to count on her dad to be there when she needed him, something she knew Sam had never understood before he'd left. Anytime she or Dean had gotten into trouble on a hunt, he'd never failed to be there. But then he'd left them and put everything into finding the demon, the one decision she'd always questioned. Because maybe if he'd never gone after it again, things could have worked out differently and he'd still be alive. Some small part of her believed that but she knew in reality that if they hadn't found the demon, the demon would have eventually found them, or mainly Sam.

Dean looked down at his sister, realising that she'd suddenly gone quiet. She was staring ahead at nothing, a small frown formed on her face, unshed tears in her eyes. "Hey, I know that face." He said softly. "Stop thinking, it's not good for you."

She seemed to snap out of her thoughts as she looked up at him, taking a couple of seconds to conjure up a small smile. "Funny Dean."

"I know, it's a gift." He said sarcastically before he looked at her seriously. "What's on your mind?"

Kate opened and closed her mouth, knowing that this was a touchy subject to bring up, especially with Dean. "I wish I'd known her better, mom."

Dean looked down at his knees, nodding to himself. He could see her hesitation to talk about it, and whether he wanted to or not, he owed it to her to be able to talk about their mom. "Yeah, I wish you'd known her better too." He said softly. "But she loved you, trust me on that one. You and Sam."

"Yeah." She ran a hand over her face and cleared her throat, smiling up at him. "Hey, I never said thanks, for saving my life tonight.. again."

"Don't mention it." He smiled. "But seriously, you've gotta stop almost dying. You took ten years off my life."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Says the guy who spent last week in a coma."

"I'm being serious here. I only ever loved two women in my life Kate, and one of them is dead. I'm not gonna lose you too." He finished quietly.

Kate stared at him for a couple of minutes, unsure of how to respond to that one. Dean hardly ever said things like that, especially about their mom, unless he was dying or completely wasted. "Dude, you need to stop taking those painkillers." She said lightly. "They're screwing with your head."

Dean looked up at her and smirked, not being able to remember the last time that he'd actually sat down with someone and talked about his parents. "I think you might be right." She laughed and kicked him lightly in the leg.

Kate jolted awake to a loud bang, not even remembering when she'd fallen asleep. Her head was rested against Dean's shoulder and her legs pulled up to her chest. She looked over to see the sheriff standing at the open door to their cell, looking at her expectantly. She thumped Dean in the arm to wake him up and got to her feet, glancing down at her watch. 7:38AM. "You're free to go." He muttered, standing aside to let them out of the cell.

"No breakfast?" Dean muttered as he passed, smiling to himself as Kate began laughing.

The two of them walked into the motel room after picking up some coffee to find Sam sleeping in one of the beds. Dean raised an eyebrow at Kate and smiled. ''I'm glad to see he's out of his mind with worry about us.. Sam!" He yelled, causing his brother to jump awake. "Coffee."

Sam glared at him and dropped back down to the bed. "Bite me." He mumbled, rubbing his eyes and yawning as he sat up again. "Fun night?" He smirked.

"Oh yeah, it was awesome." He muttered sarcastically. "Right Kate?"

"Uh-huh. Loads of fun." She laughed as she picked up some clean clothes and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

Dean fell back onto the empty bed and let out a long sigh. "Please tell me we don't have a hunt to take?" He asked Sam, pretty desperate to get some actual sleep in a bed.

"I didn't look for one." Sam answered honestly. "I expected the two of you to come back with pneumonia or something after sitting in soaking clothes all night."

Dean smirked to himself. "I might have my eyes closed Sam, but I can hear you laughing." He stated simply.

"Right." He muttered, climbing out of bed. "Whatever you say Dean."

_I know that there wasn't much Sam in this chapter, hope you liked it anyway. Also, I realised that I've never really explained what kind of relationship Kate had with John. With a lot of sisfics I think it either goes one way or the other, with them either getting on or really not getting on, so I'd love to know what you thought about that too.  
As always thank you so so so much for all of the support, couldn't ask for better readers or reviewers! :-)_


	11. Chapter 11

"You know, you'd think with all the omens in this town we'd have found at least one demon." Dean muttered as he took a drink of his beer. "I mean, they're usually not so good at covering their tracks." Sam nodded at him and took a drink of his own beer. He, Dean and Kate had been in town for a couple of days after following what they'd thought would be a standard demon hunt. But since they had been in town, they hadn't found any demons or anything even remotely supernatural, hence why Dean had suggested going to a bar.

"I know what you mean. A bunch of demonic omens and no demons, something's not right." Sam muttered. "They're usually all about making themselves known, the ones here aren't doing anything."

"Well, not yet anyway."

Sam shrugged and pulled his phone from his jacket as he felt it vibrate, reading a text from their sister. "It's Kate." He said to Dean. "Says she's on her way here."

"Did she find anything?"

Sam shook his head. "She hasn't said so, she would've called right?"

"Yeah, guess so." He said as he finished his drink. "I say we go to a different bar, this one blows."

Sam nodded and stood up. "Alright, I'm gonna head to the bathroom, you wait for her outside?"

"Sure." He answered, shrugging on his jacket on the way to the door. He stepped outside and released a long sigh, watching his breath in front of him in the cold air. There was a quiet bang behind him, followed by the sound of talking. Dean frowned curiously, casually wandering around the side of the bar, keeping his hand gripped around the handle of his knife.

Sam walked across the bar, heading towards the door and pulled out his phone. He frowned to himself when he saw that Dean was calling, wondering what could be so important that it couldn't wait thirty seconds. "Dean? What's up?" He asked curiously.

"Sam listen to me, you need to get the hell out of here, like right now." He said quickly, sounding slightly out of breath.

Sam stopped when he heard what sounded like someone being punched in the face. "Are you fighting with someone?" He then heard the familiar sound of someone being stabbed and a body being thrown to the ground. "What the hell's going on?"

"Demons." Dean said quickly. "Trust me, more of them are gonna show up, so you need to go."

"What about Kate?"

Dean didn't say anything for a couple of seconds. "She didn't come with us, so there's a good chance they don't know she's here. Sam, you need to find her and run alright? Just go out the backdoor and get back to the motel."

"But-"

"Don't argue with me Sam." Dean cut him off. "Listen, they-" Sam listened to what sounded like more fighting before the line went quiet.

"Dean? Dean?!" He sighed when he didn't get an answer and ran out to the parking lot, not seeing anyone. He walked around the side of the bar slowly, stopping when he came across Dean's phone lying on the ground, the call still connected to his. Sam shook his head and picked it up, shoving it into his own pocket and turning back to the parking lot, narrowing his eyes as he looked around. "Dean?!" He yelled, still not receiving an answer.

Kate rounded the corner and walked over the parking lot to the bar where her brothers were. She jumped as hand went over her mouth, another around her waist and pulled her backwards and around to the side of the bar. She elbowed whoever it was hard in the chest and quickly turned around to face them, coming face to face with Sam. "You jackass Sam, you scared the hell out of me.. What the hell are you doing?" She demanded, hitting him in the chest.

"Dean's gone." He stated simply.

"What do you mean, Dean's gone?" She asked, the annoyance now gone from her voice. "Gone where?"

"I don't know, he called me talking about demons, then I came out here and I found his phone."

"How-"

"Sh." He cut her off, slowly peering around the corner of the wall to see four guys walking around the parking lot, he presumed they were looking for them. "Alright, Kate you need to run."

She raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "Are you joking? No way."

"Listen, they don't know you're here. And I don't have time to argue with you." He said sternly. "Get out of here, now. One of us needs to find where they took Dean. You know what.." He pulled his phone from his jacket and flipped on the GPS. "You can track it, get Cas and then we'll deal with them. We're not gonna get anywhere if they take us all."

"But Sam-"

He leaned down and gripped her shoulders, staring into her face. "Kate, please. Go."

She looked up at him carefully and sighed. "Be careful." She said quietly, before turning and heading off in the opposite direction.

Ten minutes later, Kate ran into the motel room where she lay salt lines down at the door and windows, breathing out deeply as she ran a hand through her hair. She looked around the room quickly as she tried to think of the best way of dealing with the situation. She dropped into one of the chairs at the table and pulled out her phone, checking the GPS on Sam's phone. As soon as she had an address, she grabbed Dean's car keys from the table and ran out of the room to the car.

She drove down the road at the top end of the speed limit, breathing out deeply and pushing the panic to the back of her mind as she attempted to keep her concentration fixed on the road. She pressed her foot down harder as she ran through a red light, sighing to herself and shaking her head. She thought back to what Sam had said to her and slowed down slightly. "Cas, listen man, I need a hand.." She waited a few seconds before she heard the familiar sound of wings beside her.

"Hello Kate." She jumped slightly when he appeared in the passenger seat beside her. "What's wrong?"

"Sam and Dean.. they uh, got jumped by some demons. I don't really know what happened." She said quietly. "We came here a couple of days ago, there were all these demonic omens but no demons.. Then they must've just shown up at the bar or something.." She trailed off and sighed.

Castiel didn't say anything for a couple of minutes as he thought about it. "Then you understand that this is probably a trap don't you? The demonic omens to get the three of you to town? And then wait until your guard was down to find you."

"Yeah, I've worked that part out.. But I can't just leave them there can I?" She said slowly. "Anyway, I know where they are but.. I'm on my own with no knife and ya know, it's always good to have some backup." He nodded at her before he turned his attention to the road ahead of them. "Alright, this is the place." She muttered as she pulled up outside of an old, abandoned looking house.

The two of them climbed out of the car quietly and made their way over the muddy grass towards the door. Castiel suddenly stopped walking and frowned. "I can't go inside."

Kate turned to face him and raised her eyebrows. "You what?"

"There's angel warding symbols here, I can't get in."

She sighed and shook her head. "That's just great." She muttered.

"Kate, these demons obviously know what they're doing. They are not messing around here."

"Look, if we're right and this is a trap, I can't leave them in there."

He nodded at her and looked around slowly. "I'll work on it and meet you inside, just be careful."

_I know, I'm an awful person for leaving it there! It was going to all go up as one chapter but honestly I wasn't happy with part of it, and I didn't want to leave it too long without updating so I split it into two and I'm already nearly done with the next chapter, so it won't be too long to wait ;) Thank you again for reading and for the reviews! Love you all so much for the support! :)_


	12. Chapter 12

Kate walked through the door of the dark house, taking a breath and closing it softly behind herself as she entered. The place was old, looking as though it wasn't far from falling apart. She took a step forwards, her heart stopping when the floorboard creaked loudly beneath her foot. After standing completely still for a few seconds, she breathed out deeply and shook her head to herself before stepping over it and walking silently towards the first door that she saw. She pushed it open slowly, peering around the side and finding Dean slumped over on the floor, his eyes closed and his wrists held above his head by a pair of handcuffs. She ran over to him and dropped to her knees beside him, holding her breath until she realised that he was breathing. "Dean? Dean, wake up." She shook his shoulders before placing her hands on his cheeks and pulling his head up to face her. "Dean, c'mon.. You need to wake up bro."

"Kate?" He murmured, the word slurred slightly as he came around and lifted his head slowly to look at her.

"Yeah, it's me." Kate said to him, trying to keep her voice reassuring and confident. She turned her attention to one of his wrists as she went through his jacket pockets in search of a lock pick.

"Kate, where's Sam?" Dean grumbled, a hint of urgency in his voice.

She shrugged but didn't take her eyes from the lock of the handcuffs that she was now working on. "I haven't seen him."

"Alright, you need to go, before they come back. Go find Sam, I can manage this."

"Are you kidding me? You're barely even conscious. No way."

"Kate-" He began, a little more sternly.

"I'm not leaving you here Dean. Not in that state. Not a chance."

"Sam might be hurt. Please, Kate I'm begging you here, find him and get yourselves out."

"I can't, you know that.." She sighed, thinking of a way to change the subject before he got worked up. "What the hell happened to you anyway?"

"Demons jumped me. Four of them. But trust me, I think there's like ten of them here somewhere."

Her eyes widened slightly. "Please tell that you're exaggerating?"

"No, which is why you need to go and find Sam, god knows what they're doing with him."

"We'll find Sam alright, but you're coming with me." She said as she continued to try and get his wrist free. "Man, these locks are a bitch." She muttered.

"Take a while to crack don't they?" A deep voice said from behind her, a sense of dread washing over her.

"Kate, run." Dean told her in a low voice.

"Uh, I think they might have spotted me Dean." She muttered sarcastically before getting to her feet and turning to face the guy.

"Another Winchester. This party just keeps getting better and better." He said lightly.

"Where's Sam?" She asked him blankly, her fists balled at her sides.

"Oh he's having some fun with a friend of mine." He smirked. "I'd be more worried about yourself right now if I were you." He took a step towards her and looked over her shoulder down at Dean. "You're going to sit there and watch everything I do to her."

"Lay a finger on her and I swear to god I'll rip you to shreds." Dean warned.

The demon smirked at him before punching Kate in the face, sending her falling to the ground. He kicked her hard in the chest over and over before she'd even had a chance to process what had happened. Kate looked up from the floor to Dean, his jaw clenched in anger as he tried to tug his hands free. She looked up at the demon as he knelt over her. "Don't worry Kate, you'll be with your slut mother soon enough." He snarled at her.

Kate clenched her jaw in anger and brought her leg up before she kicked him hard in the chest, sending him backwards away from her. She stumbled to her feet and threw a punch to his mouth. "Don't you dare." She spat out at him, ducking one of his punches before punching him again, harder. The demon turned back to her and punched her hard enough to send her stumbling backwards, tripping back and landing in Dean's lap.

"My belt." He said simply. Kate frowned in confusion before looking down and seeing the demon killing knife tucked into the side of it. She slowly grabbed the knife, keeping her eyes on Dean until he nodded at her. The second he did, she spun around and drove the knife up through the demon's chin, holding it there for a second before ripping it out and letting the body drop to the ground. She turned back to Dean who looked her up and down, taking in the blood coming from her lip and the small cut by her eyebrow. "You alright?" He asked, his voice genuinely concerned.

"I'm-" She stopped at the loud bang behind her, three more demons walking through the door. "Crap." She muttered, tucking the knife into the back of her jeans so that they wouldn't see it before she turned to face them.

"Oh you said it sweetheart." One of them smirked, taking a step towards her. Kate allowed him to get close enough to her that he wouldn't notice when she pulled the knife from the back of her jeans and pushed it into his back. His body dropped to the floor before she pulled the knife out and looked up at the other two. She took a deep breath as they both walked towards her, punching one of them in the face before kicking the other in the stomach. She took the opportunity as he stumbled back to duck a punch from one and stab the other to the ground.

"You little whore." The other snarled, punching her to the ground. She groaned when she felt that she'd fallen onto some glass, already feeling the blood against the front of her jeans. The demon kicked the knife from her hand and smirked, getting to his knees and leaning over her before wrapping his hands around her neck. Kate grabbed his hands, attempting to pull them from around her neck. She coughed slightly, feeling herself starting to get light-headed as he pressed his hands down harder. She reached out an arm in the general direction that she'd remembered the knife falling, eventually managing to get a grip of the handle. She pushed it up into his chest and shoved him off her, the body falling to the ground beside her.

Dean looked over at her, lying on the floor and not moving. "Kate? Hey, talk to me." She groaned and coughed again before she pushed herself into a sitting position, looking over at her brother. "You okay?" He asked, his voice sounding more concerned than he'd intended it to.

She spat out some blood and looked up at the door as four more of them walked in. "Oh you've got to be kidding me." She breathed out, staggering to her feet and looking between them, her shoulders visibly dropping. "Where do you guys keep coming from?" She glanced over at Dean, the fear visible in his face under the clear amount of anger.

Kate groaned as she turned to face them. The knife fell from her hand as one of them grabbed her from behind, holding her there as another made his way towards her. She jumped up, pushing herself off the one holding her, and kicked him in the chest before pulling herself from the other's grip. She lunged for the knife and stabbed the demon in the back of the neck, turning to face the other three.

One punched her around the face, hard enough for her to hit the ground, and kicked her in the chest. Kate looked up at him and stabbed him in the back of the leg, causing him to fall to the ground beside her. She propped herself up on her elbow and plunged the knife into his chest, quickly pulling it out and stumbling back to her feet just as another came up behind her. She span around quickly, slicing the knife through it's neck.

She gripped the knife tightly in her hand as she turned to the last demon, glaring at her from the other side of the room. He casually stepped over one of the bodies and shook his head before raising his hand and sending her flying backwards across the room and into the wall. The second she'd stumbled to her feet, he sent her flying across the room and face first into the opposite wall. "This really how you wanna do it?" She breathed out, the pain clear in her voice as she glared over at him. "You're not scared to fight me are you?" She smirked.

The demon smiled and took a few step towards her, slapping her around the face with the back of his hand. "Don't flatter yourself." He practically growled out. Kate smirked and looked across the room at where she'd dropped the knife beside the wall. She slowly moved around so that her back was to it.

"That all you got?" She scoffed, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Dean was staring at her like she was insane. "Do it again, I dare you." The demon shook his head at her but raised his hand and sent her flying back into the wall, not noticing when she grabbed the knife. She pushed herself to her feet, a small grin forming on her face as she squeezed the knife lightly before raising her arm and throwing it across the room, hitting the demon straight in the chest. Kate straightened herself up, still slightly out of breath, and turned to Dean who was staring at her with his mouth hanging open, his eyebrows not far from his hairline. "Man, did you see that?" She asked him, a slight hint of excitement in her voice.

He blinked hard and raised an eyebrow at her. "Please tell me you're not actually enjoying yourself here?"

She shrugged and allowed a small smirk to form on her lips. "Maybe a little."

"Just, get me out of these things okay?" He said, holding back a smirk of his own from breaking out.

Around ten minutes later, she finally managed to pick the lock on the handcuffs. Dean brought his arms down and rolled his shoulders with a small groan before turning his attention to Kate. He looked over the cuts on her face and shook his head. "Jeez Kate, you're lucky to be alive." He muttered as he stumbled to his feet.

"I had it under control." She reached down to her thigh and pulled out the piece of glass that she'd fallen on, grimacing when she saw how deep it had been.

"Right. Cause what's eight demons to a Winchester?" Dean said lightly, wincing at the sight of her leg and pulling a piece of cloth from his jacket, handing it to her to tie around it. "I think you've seen a couple too many Bruce Willis films."

She wiped her bloody hands on the back of her jeans and shrugged at him. "Please, when was the last time you took out eight demons that fast?"

"Not the point." He smirked at her and crossed the room, pulling the knife from the demon's chest. "You sure you're alright?" He asked, eyeing her warily as she limped towards the door, an arm held over her stomach and a pained look on her face.

"I'll live." She said flatly. "C'mon, we need to find Sam."

"Right. How'd you find us so fast anyway?" He asked her as they walked out of the room and back into the hallway.

"I tracked the GPS on Sam's phone, wasn't hard." She muttered, nodding to a door at the end of the corridor.

Dean pushed open the door to find Sam sitting in a similar position to what he'd been in, both his arms held above his head. He looked from Dean to Kate and frowned. "Kate? What are you doing here?" He asked her, actually looking surprised to see her there. He hadn't expected her to find them so quickly, and he'd honestly thought that when he'd told her to call Castiel for help, he would've made her stay at the motel.

"Oh c'mon Sam, you didn't really think I was gonna sit around and wait for you idiots to get yourselves out did you?"

"So you just walked straight in? Little reckless don't you think?"

"You want reckless Sam? That's not even the half of it." Dean muttered, pulling the lock pick from his jacket and starting work on Sam's wrist.

Sam looked over at Kate and raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Eight demons Sam. Eight."

He looked at her for a couple of seconds, waiting for her to laugh at his face or for Dean to call her an idiot. "Are you joking?" He asked, realising that she did genuinely pleased with herself.

"Oh no, you should have seen it Sammy. Badass is not the word, right Dean?"

He shook his head at her and smirked. "I won't lie, it was pretty impressive."

"Well thanks, you saved my ass." Sam said lightly.

Kate looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "How'd you work that one out?"

"There were four of them in here, they heard fighting going on and bailed. I'm guessing that was you?"

Before either of them had a chance to answer him, the door banged open behind them. They all looked over to see Castiel walking inside quickly. "How the hell did you get in?" Kate asked him.

"It's complicated." He reached out and grabbed the handcuffs on Sam's wrist, snapping them in the middle and leaving one side still attached to his arm. "We need to go, now."

"Well, I don't need telling twice." Dean muttered, holding out a hand and pulling Sam to his feet before following Castiel to the door.

Sam and Dean climbed into the front seats of the car while Kate and Castiel climbed into the back, Sam holding an arm over the backseat for Kate to carry on picking the lock on the handcuffs still attached to one of his wrists. "So, I'm curious.." Sam began, turning to Dean, a small smile forming on his face. "How you managed to get jumped by, what, three demons.. And your little sister took on eight."

Dean scoffed. "For the record, there were four of them. And I'd been drinking."

"Yeah, that's your excuse." He muttered. "Pretty lame Dean."

Dean glanced at him for a second and raised an eyebrow. "Do you wanna walk back to the motel Sam?" Sam didn't answer him, he simply smirked wider. "No? Well shut up then."

Sam laughed and went back to watching Kate attempt to unpick the lock on the cuffs around his wrist. "You're bleeding, badly." Castiel suddenly said, glancing down at the bloody rag still tied around her thigh, the denim around it completely soaked with blood.

Sam looked over the seat down at her leg, feeling guilty that he hadn't even noticed it. "Jeez, what the hell happened there?"

Kate shook her head, keeping her attention fixed on Sam's wrist so that she wasn't thinking about the blood she was loosing or that she was likely to soon start feeling dizzy. "I'm alright." She looked up at him and smiled as the lock clicked on the handcuffs. "Yahtzee."

"Thanks." He said with a smile, rubbing his wrist slightly as Dean turned a corner into the parking lot.

The four of them headed over the parking lot and into the motel room, Kate walking straight to the bathroom where she splashed some water over her face, clearing the dried blood from the cuts. Sam and Castiel sat down at the table towards the side of the room while Dean followed his sister to the bathroom, turning her around and holding her chin gently as he carefully looked over her face. "You're gonna have one hell of a shiner there sis." He said lightly, nodding at her left eye. "So what hurts?" He asked, looking her up and down, noticing her wince in pain as she pulled off her jacket.

She looked up at him seriously and gave him a small smile. "I think my ribs are cracked."

"Not too surprising." He muttered, his voice half sarcastic, half sympathetic. "Alright, shirt off." She pulled her face slightly as she pulled her shirt over her head, dropping it to the floor beside her. "I'll tell you one thing, you're gonna be black and blue when you wake up tomorrow." He said slowly, looking over her stomach and feeling her ribs lightly. "Yeah, they're definitely cracked."

"Awesome." She mumbled.

Dean offered her an apologetic smile as he pulled off his own jacket. "Hey Sammy, first aid kit for your reckless little sis." He called over his shoulder.

Sam appeared in the bathroom doorway with it in less than five seconds, a concerned frown on his face as he looked over her carefully. "You alright?"

"Oh yeah, I'm awesome." She said, throwing him a sarcastic smile. Sam laughed at her and handed Dean the first aid kit before turning back to the room and pulling the door over.

They didn't really talk much as Dean strapped up her ribs, except the occasional apology from him when she inadvertently hissed in a breath when he'd pressed too hard. Once he'd finished on her ribs, he looked down to the bloody cloth still tied about half way up her thigh. "You know that's probably gonna need some stitches, before you bleed to death."

She looked down at her leg and pulled a face. "Anything to stick a needle through me right?" She muttered sarcastically.

"Hm, am I that obvious?" He smirked and patted her lightly on the arm before leaving the bathroom and picking up her bag. He pulled out a clean shirt and some shorts before tossing them to her and pulling the bathroom door closed.

"So what's the damage?" Sam asked him, picking up the bottle of whiskey on the table and holding it out to him.

"Uh, nasty gash on her leg and a few cracked ribs." He told them, taking a drink from the bottle. "Other than that it's just a few cuts and bruises."

"Huh." Sam muttered, unable to keep the smirk from spreading over his face. "Not bad to say she took on eight demons."

Dean shook his head, shooting him an amused glare. "You're never gonna let me live this one down are you?"

"Not a chance." He grinned at him before turning his attention to Castiel, realising that he'd barely said two words to any of them since they'd gotten back to the motel room. "How're you doing anyway? You're pretty quiet."

"I'm fine." He stated simply, not looking at either of them.

Dean shot him a curious look before shrugging it off and turning his attention to his brother, scanning his eyes over him. "What about you? Are you hurt?"

"Nah, they didn't have time to do anything before Rambo in there busted in." He said lightly, nodding towards the bathroom door.

"Yeah.. speaking of." He took another drink of the whiskey before crossing the room to the bathroom and pulling the door closed behind himself. "Here." He said, handing out the bottle of whiskey to Kate. "You might need that." She nodded, taking the bottle from him before sitting on the edge of the bath as he pulled out a needle and began stitching up her leg. "Hey, I never said thanks, for saving out asses tonight." Kate gave him a look, something between a 'you're welcome' smile and a 'shut up and get the hell on with it' wince of pain. "And don't get me wrong here.." He continued. "..I'm not trying to pick a fight, but I wasn't kidding when I said what you did was reckless. You could've come out of there with a lot worse."

"I know, honestly I think I was just running on adrenaline." She muttered, taking another drink of whiskey as he pushed another stitch through her skin. "Plus I couldn't just leave your useless ass locked up now could I?"

Dean laughed as he pulled through the last stitch, grabbing a cloth and wiping the blood from around the cut. "Alright, we're done." He said lightly, patting her leg dry with a towel.

"Thanks." She said as she pushed herself up, leaning against the sink and attempting to ignore the stinging in her leg.

"You wanna take a shower?" He offered, pushing her out of the way of the sink lightly so he could wash the blood from his hands.

"Nah, I think I'm in too much pain to move that much right now." She muttered. "You take one." He nodded at her as she turned towards the door, giving him a quick smile before pulling it open.

Sam looked her over carefully as she limped out of the bathroom, closing the door behind herself. He glanced at the gash on her leg and grimaced. "That looks painful."

"It's fine." She shrugged and slowly sat in the chair next to his, hissing in a breath at the pain in her ribs. "I've had worse."

Sam nodded but kept his eyes fixed on her. "You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, course I am.. I could go for a couple of painkillers though."

"Course." He smiled, ruffling her hair as he passed and coming back a couple of minutes later with some pills and water. "Those are the last two we've got, I'm gonna run to the store before it closes. I'm guessing you might need some more later."

"Thanks Sammy."

"It's Sam." He called over his shoulder as he headed out of the door.

Kate smirked to herself, looking from the door to Castiel, noticing that he seemed to be avoiding looking at her. "You okay?" She asked softly, the look on his face making her unsure about whether or not she'd get an answer.

He waited a couple of seconds before answering, his usual concentrated frown forming on his face. "Kate, I'm sorry." He said quietly. "You shouldn't have had to go in there alone."

"Hey, it wasn't your fault." She looked up at him and smiled, resting a reassuring hand on his arm. "Cas, you showed up, you got us out of there.. Like you always do."

Castiel glanced down at the gash on her leg for a second before returning his gaze to her face. "You got hurt." He said, the guilt obvious in his tone.

"Not badly." She said lightly. "Don't worry about it, seriously."

He nodded slowly, giving her a small smile before getting to his feet. "I'll see you later." He said quietly before he vanished. Kate sighed to herself before moving to sit on one of the beds, flicking on the tv while she waited for Sam to get back or Dean for to get out of the shower. She placed an arm around her ribs lightly and breathed out deeply, ignoring the pain. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall, falling asleep quickly.

_Really long chapter I know but she's just so badass ;-) Thank you for reading and for the reviews and support, means a lot! :) _


	13. Chapter 13

Kate walked down the quiet street, squinting in the sunlight as she made her way towards the motel room she and her brothers were currently staying in, the bag of food Dean had sent her to get held loosely in one of her hands. It had been a week since the demon case they'd taken, the majority of her cuts and bruises had faded leaving only small marks, and while her ribs were now pretty much painless, Sam and Dean were still slightly wary about her doing anything too strenuous. They'd followed another demon lead to the next state, realising it was likely there was a pretty big demon hanging around somewhere. She pushed open the door to the motel room, kicking it closed behind herself and tossing the bag over to Dean who winked at her as she passed. "Who's he on the phone to?" She asked Sam as she dropped down onto the small couch beside him, nodding over at where Dean was talking on the phone.

"I think it's Bobby." He muttered, turning to her and giving her a slight shrug telling her that he wasn't sure.

"Huh." Was all she gave as a reply, reaching forward to the table in front of them and picking up the remote to the tv, turning it on and absent-mindedly flicking through the channels for a few minutes before sighing and turning it off again. "You found anything on where this demon might be?" She asked, glancing sideways to Sam's laptop screen.

"No, I'd say it's definitely in town though. Another two people we found dead this morning." He muttered glumly, scanning over a news article.

"That sucks." She answered quietly, looking up as Dean dropped the phone to the table and got to his feet, taking a bite of his burger as he crossed the room towards them. "Who was on the phone?" Kate asked him.

"Bobby." He said, his mouth full of food. "He said there's a ghoul thing about three or four hours from here, wanted us to check it out."

"And what did you say?" Sam asked, glancing up at him from his laptop.

"I said that we were working on a demon thing." He muttered, heading over to the small fridge and pulling out a beer. "Little more important than a few ghouls don't you think?"

"We could always split up?" Kate offered, looking between them.

Dean turned and raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"You and Sam can stay here and finish up the demon thing, I'll go and take out the ghouls." She said lightly as she pushed herself to her feet and walked past him, tossing her bag to the bed. "Less people die that way."

Dean frowned as she began shoving her clothes into her bag, apparently not waiting for an answer from him. "Are you joking? No way are you just wandering off to take out a bunch of ghouls on your own."

"Dean, this job needs two of us and obviously you're not going to be the one to leave are you?" Dean didn't say anything. "And you need Sam around since I'm guessing you're not gonna be the one to take over the research? And besides, I think I've had enough demons lately, don't you? Taking out a couple of ghouls is a piece of cake, three days tops."

Dean looked over his shoulder at Sam who was now leaning against the back of the couch, getting nothing more than a small shrug telling him that he apparently didn't have a problem with the idea. "Maybe she's got a point on this one Dean." He said casually.

He sighed heavily and turned back to her, shaking his head to himself. "Alright fine, you can go. But you call us the second you're done with it and then you march your ass right back here." Kate rolled her eyes at him and nodded, zipping up her bag and placing her phone in her back pocket as she walked away from him. "And be careful alright?" He added seriously.

"I always am." She said with a smirk.

"And you call us if you get hurt, none of this stupid 'I can deal with it myself, it's not a big deal' crap that you come with. I'm talking even a scratch, I want a phone call." He said sternly, pretty sure that she wasn't paying attention to him. "And behave yourself. That means no booze, no boys and no dying okay?"

"Dean, would you just chill out? It's not like it's the first time I've taken a hunt by myself." She argued.

"It's the first time you've taken one while you still have cracked ribs." He muttered, rolling his eyes and picking up her leather jacket as he realised that was what she'd been wandering around the room aimlessly looking for. "Just- make sure you pay attention, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah.." She mumbled, shrugging on the jacket and tossing her bag over her right shoulder, smiling up at him. "Quit worrying, I'll be fine."

"I know." He sighed, pulling a face at her as she took a step forward and pulled him into a hug. She smirked up at him as she pulled back, patting him on the chest and glancing over at Sam who took a couple of steps towards her and pulled her into a hug.

"See you in a couple of days." Sam said lightly, pulling back and giving her a look telling her to be careful.

Kate nodded at them, turning and crossing the room towards the door, pulling it open and smiling at them. "Don't get yourselves killed while I'm gone." She muttered, earning her a sarcastic glare from Dean. "I'll call you later." With that, she pulled the door closed behind herself and left.

"She'll be fine Dean." Sam muttered, walking past him and getting himself a beer, handing Dean another one on his way back.

"Course she will, you need to have more faith in her Sammy." He muttered sarcastically, getting nothing more than an eye roll in response.

Kate smiled to herself as she reached out and turned the music coming from the car radio on full, pressing her foot down and running a hand through her loose hair, being blown by the slight breeze coming through the small cracks in the windows. It was a rare occasion that she ever got any kind of independence in her life, whether it was being able to drive a car as fast as she wanted with her own music on or take a hunt by herself. She nodded her head to the music, barely paying attention to anything as she kept her eyes on the long, empty road ahead of her. "Hello Kate." A deep voice suddenly said beside her.

"Jesus christ!" She yelled in surprise, the car swerving to the other side of the road for a second as she turned and realised it was Castiel. She took a breath as she slowed the car down slightly, reaching out and turning the music right down as she regained control of her driving. "What the hell Cas?" She shook her head at him and breathed out deeply, running a hand down her face. "Don't do that."

Castiel looked down at her, a confused frown forming on his face. "Do what?"

"Forget it." She muttered. "What's up?"

"Nothing, I thought I'd come and see how you were." He said quietly, the slight hint of guilt still in his voice as he refused to look her in the face.

She sighed and shook her head, realising that she still hadn't spoken to him since they'd taken the demon hunt. "I'll tell you the same thing as I told you last week, it's only a couple of ribs Cas, I'm good, seriously." He nodded slowly, not giving an answer. "You're as bad as us three with the self-induced guilt trips man." She added lightly.

Castiel turned and gave her a small smile before his attention fell to the unfamiliar car, glancing around it before looking back to Kate. "Where are your brothers?" He asked her curiously.

"Oh, they're about three hours back finishing up a hunt." She answered, her tone now more upbeat than before. "It's a demon thing."

"I see." He frowned again, looking straight out of the window ahead. "They let you take a hunt alone?"

Kate couldn't help the smirk that spread across her face at that question. "What is it with you three? I can handle a few days without them ya know."

"Are you sure? I can stay and help you with the hunt if you want."

Kate laughed and shook her head. "It's fine, seriously. You go deal with the god squad or whatever it is that you do while you're gone and I'll take care of it. Contrary to what my brother's may think, I'm old enough to know what I'm doing." She turned to him and grinned. "I'll be fine. And I promise, I'll call if I'm not."

The next couple of days passed by quickly, Kate barely stopping throughout the hunt. She managed to finish it without getting injured or without anything going wrong, it had been pretty simple. She pulled her phone from the back pocket of her jeans and dialed Sam's number, picking up her stuff from around her motel room while she waited for him to answer. _"Hello?"_ His voice came from the other end of the phone after a few rings.

"Hey, it's me." She answered him casually. "So I finished the hunt and I'm heading back soon, should be there by tonight." She told him as she picked up a pair of jeans and tossed them over her shoulder in the direction of her bag.

"Nice job Kate." Sam said brightly. "I guess we'll see you later then."

"Sure." She smiled to herself as she hung up the phone, shoving it into her back pocket again before picking up the last couple of shirts from the floor and dropping them into her bag. She swung the bag over her shoulder and made her way out to the car, throwing the bag into the backseat and closing the door, stopping when she realised that she'd left her jacket in the room.

Kate stepped back inside and pulled on her jacket, looking around the room slowly when she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, getting the weird feeling that she was being watched as her hunter instincts kicked in. Realising that any kind of weapon she had with her was in the car, she cleared her throat and pulled out her phone as she crossed the room to the door, stopping dead when it slammed closed right in front of her. "Oh crap." She muttered to herself, reaching out and pulling on the handle, shaking her head when it wouldn't open. Pushing back the panic, she turned her attention to her phone, beginning to type out a text to Sam, her eyes going wide as the screen went blank, refusing to turn on again. "Shit." She said to herself, shoving it into her jacket as her eyes fell to the bathroom window. She took a couple of steps across the room before her breath caught in her throat, her chest tight as she hit her knees unable to breath. One hand clutched at her neck, the other keeping her from falling flat on her face as she tried to think straight. "Cas-" She choked out, the only person she could think of that would have a chance of getting to her before things went seriously wrong..

_Aaagh, don't hate me! Thank you so much for the reviews and for reading! Hope you liked! :-) _


	14. Chapter 14

Dean pulled his phone from his jeans and sighed heavily, again. "Have you heard from her yet?" He asked Sam curiously, glancing to the side as his brother climbed into the passenger seat of the Impala, the annoyance in his own voice clear even to him. Sam shook his head, not bothering with an answer. "I'm going to kill her, I swear to god." He muttered as he started the car again, taking off down the street.

"Look, I think we're overreacting a little Dean. Maybe the hunt just took her longer than she thought it would?" Sam reasoned, not wanting to once again get into the debate of how many things could have happened to her. Since Kate had called and told them she had finished the hunt and was heading back, they hadn't heard from her at all. Her phone had been off and she hadn't shown up at the motel room. After a pretty heated debate, ending with Dean losing his temper and walking out to a bar somewhere, they had decided that Sam should head to town and find her while Dean stayed back and finished up the demon hunt.

"It's been over a week since she left Sam, and six days without a phone call. You've been here for almost a week and you've found jack squat." Dean argued. "I know she can be an idiot sometimes but that's not like her, and you know that." Sam sighed and nodded, knowing full well that his brother was right here but at the same time wanting to keep the both of them calm. He had looked around the town, asked everyone he'd met but no one he'd spoken to had seen her around for at least a week.

They'd been driving around aimlessly for almost an hour, barely speaking to each other, before Dean turned another corner. He slowed down his driving, just barely, so that they could get a better look at where they were. "Hey Dean, pull over." Sam said after a couple of minutes, instantly recognising something he hadn't seen since he'd been in town.

Dean glanced over at him, a confused look on his face, but stopped the car and climbed out, following where his brother was already crossing over the road. "What is it?" He asked curiously, glancing around the quiet street.

Sam walked around a car parked up outside of a closed bar and frowned to himself. "This is the car she took." He said quietly.

"This is ridiculous." Dean shook his head, looking around the empty street again before turning back to his brother. "You sure?"

Sam peered into the backseat and pointed at the leather jacket that had been thrown there. "I'd say so."

He sighed heavily and ran a hand down his face. "Alright, well the only motel in town was a couple of blocks away right?"

Sam shook his head. "I checked there Dean, first place I went, she hasn't been there." He said quietly, resting his arms on the top of the car and looking over at Dean. "She's smart, if she doesn't wanna be found, she's not gonna stay somewhere we'd look."

Dean nodded, thinking it over. "What about the next town over, maybe she's staying there?" He suggested, the only option that he could think of at that point. "I guess that'd explain why there's no trace of her here right?"

"Sure." Sam mumbled. They crossed the road and climbed back into the Impala, neither saying anything as they both tried to think through what was going on.

Dean pulled up outside the motel about half an hour later, now looking more impatient than ever. Sam followed him into the small reception room at the front, stopping in front of the desk where a guy who looked to be around fifty was sitting. He looked between them and smiled, lowering the newspaper that he had been reading. "Checking in?" He asked casually.

"Uh, no. We were wondering if you'd had a girl checked in here this week.." Dean began.

The guy looked him up and down and raised an eyebrow. "You wanna be more specific?"

"She's uh, twenty-four, blonde hair, about 5'7'.. probably wearing a leather jacket.." He trailed off and sighed. "You know what?" He reached into his jacket and pulled out his wallet, looking through it for a photo. "Her." He said, holding a photo of her and Sam over the desk.

The guy took the photo from him and narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, she's here. She was wearing a lot more make up, and a lot less clothes but yeah, that's definitely her."

"Great, can you tell us where?" He asked, a slight hint of hope now in his voice.

He glanced down at the book in front of him and nodded. "Room twelve."

Dean turned to walk away from the desk but stopped as something else occurred to him. "She on her own?"

"She was, but then she's had a guy up there almost every night the past week." He said, throwing them an apologetic look when he'd realised, judging by the looks on their faces, that hadn't been the answer they'd wanted.

Dean clenched his jaw and looked at Sam who turned his attention to the guy again. "The same guy or.."

"No, no.. Different guys."

"Right." Sam muttered. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

He thought about it for a few seconds before looking back up at them. "Well, there's been another guy asking questions about her.. If that helps?"

They looked between each other and frowned. "What'd this guy look like?" Dean demanded.

"Uh, tall, black hair. Wearing a trench coat."

Sam sighed and handed the guy a twenty. "Thanks." He mumbled before following Dean towards the door and out onto the parking lot. "Well, that doesn't sound good does it?" He said slowly.

"No, it doesn't." Dean answered as he began walking towards the room, Sam right behind him.

Sam smirked to himself lightly as they made their way to the room. "You've got a photo of us in your wallet?" He asked, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.

"Solely for situations like this Sam." Dean answered flatly, making Sam smirk harder.

They stopped outside one of the doors, Dean pounding on it with the side of his fist until they heard the lock click on the other side. "Jesus Christ." He mumbled to himself, turning away as Kate opened the door. She was wearing a guy's shirt, only fastened with one button, over her black underwear. There was dark make up around her eyes and her hair was curled, slightly messy, looking like she'd just gotten up from bed when Dean had knocked on the door. "You wanna go and put something on Kate?" He said expectantly, his tone annoyed.

She looked between them and raised her eyebrows leaning against the side of the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Kate you were supposed to be taking like a three-day job, at the most." Dean said, looking behind her at the messy room.

Kate stared at them, raising her eyebrows further. "And?" She pressed.

"You've been gone for over a week, no phone calls, no texts. Where the hell have you been?"

"I was taking a break." She smirked to herself as she turned and walked back inside the room, followed by Sam and Dean.

"So we've heard.. And the ghouls? Did you take care of it?" Sam asked her.

"Oh that, yeah. That's sorted." She said as she pulled some jeans from her bag.

Sam frowned at Dean in disbelief as he shook his head at him. "And you didn't think to let us know that you wouldn't be coming back?"

"Yeah, must've slipped my mind." She said as she walked over to the bathroom and pulled the door closed behind herself.

Dean turned slowly to Sam, his eyebrows not far from his hairline. "What?" He shook his head. "What was that about?"

"Search me." Sam muttered, glancing around the room slowly. He picked up a bottle from the table and raised an eyebrow. "Since when does she drink gin?"

"As far as I knew, she doesn't." Dean muttered. They both turned as she came out in some tight black jeans and a low, dark-grey vest that showed off the bottom of her stomach. "What the hell are you wearing?" Dean asked, a disapproving frown on his face.

"Kate, what's happened to you?" Sam asked her quietly.

"Nothing's happened to me." She said flatly, looking up as someone knocked on the door. She downed a shot of whiskey lying on the table and smiled. "I gotta head out for a while, I'll see you later alright?"

"Whoa, no. You're not going anywhere." Dean said sternly, following her towards the door. He looked the guy standing outside it up and down, glaring at him. Kate ignored him and walked right past him, crossing the parking lot with the guy and not looking back. Dean slammed the door and let out a heavy sigh. "Now what?"

Sam shook his head. "We could call Cas, I mean, something must be going on if he's asking around right?"

Dean nodded. "Alright, get your ass down here Cas." He practically growled. "Now."

"Dean, calm down." Sam said quietly, seeing in his face that his brother was getting himself riled up.

"Dean, Sam." Castiel's voice said behind them after a few seconds.

"What the hell happened to her?" Dean demanded.

"I don't know." He replied simply.

Dean shook his head. "Not good enough Cas, try harder."

A frown formed on his face as he stared back at Dean. "What?"

"Cas, you obviously know something's wrong or you wouldn't have been here. So quit being a bitch about it and just tell me what's happened."

"Dean, I-" He began, not getting a chance to finish before Dean spoke again.

"Don't bother lying to me. I'm not stupid. You know what's going on here, you knew where she was." He grabbed him by his tie and pulled him forwards, glaring at him. "You better start talking or I swear to god-"

"Dean." Sam warned. "That's not helping.. Cas, how did you know she was here?"

"I came to see her and that's what she was like when I got here. I don't know what happened." He turned to Dean, his voice growing harsher. "Maybe if you'd stop throwing your weight around you'd be able to see that."

Dean stared at him for a minute before loosening his grip and taking a step back. "Right. So what do we do now?" He said, looking between them.

Sam shook his head and shrugged. "Wait for her to get back I guess, see what's up with her."

"Yeah." He sighed and took a seat on the edge of one of the beds, picking up a bottle of whiskey from the table.

Kate came back to the motel room a couple of hours later. The second she walked through the door, the three of them rose to their feet. Sam pulled out a knife and nodded towards the chair in the middle of the room. She looked from him to the knife clutched in his hand and then to Dean and Castiel, raising an eyebrow. "Oh come on, you can't be serious." She said, looking between them like they were insane.

"Oh we're dead serious." Dean said, his voice low. "Now get in the chair."

She sighed and looked between them again before she took a seat, allowing Sam to tie her arms behind her back and her ankles to the bottom of the chair. "What the hell are you idiots doing?" She asked, her voice casual.

He walked around the chair to look at her. "You're not Kate."

"Oh, please." She rolled her eyes, a smile forming on her face.

"Hey, if you are, then you've nothing to worry about have you?" Sam muttered as he held up the silver knife. He ran it over her arm, glancing up at Dean when nothing happened.

"Told ya." She said lightly. "Not a shifter."

"Don't get so smug." Dean muttered, pouring some salt into a bottle of holy water and throwing it over her bleeding arm, frowning even harder when nothing happened. "Sam, I need to talk to you outside. Cas, watch her."

Castiel nodded at them, watching as they made their way towards the door and out of the room. Dean leant his back against the door and sighed, looking up at Sam. "If that's not a monster, what the hell is it?" He asked him. "Because it's not Kate."

"Yeah, you're right, what are we supposed to do now?"

Dean shook his head, turning back to the door and walking into the room. "Alright, we know you're not her so just tell us what your game is, I seriously don't have the patience for this." He said, his voice threatening.

She smirked at them and nodded. "What gave me away?" She asked, mock curiosity in her voice.

"Maybe the fact that you're acting like a total bitch." Sam cut in, glaring at her. "What do you want with her?"

"Seriously?" She rolled her eyes. "Jeez Sammy, you should know by now. There aren't many things out there these days that haven't heard of the Winchesters. So I'll admit, curiosity got the better of me when I worked out your little sister was crashing in my town." She turned her attention to Castiel and grinned. "You shouldn't have left her on her own Cas. She told you she was taking a job on her own and you just left her to it. She called you for help and you didn't show up."

Castiel leant his hands on the arms of the chair and leaned in, a menacing glare on his face. "Tell me where she is." He almost growled at her. "Now."

"And why would I want to do that?" She shrugged. "Honestly, I'm beginning to like it."

He took a step back from her and shook his head before slapping her around the face. "Tell me where she is!" He demanded again, raising his voice.

Dean glanced up at Sam, a concerned frown on his face. "Alright buddy, I think you need a some air." He said lightly, pulling Castiel away from her.

"No Dean." He argued.

Dean pulled him to the side of the room and sighed. "Cas, you need to calm down man." He repeated, slightly harsher. "That thing's the only way we have of finding her. You can't kill it." He watched him expectantly until he nodded and turned to walk out of the door.

Sam leant against the edge of the table, watching her curiously. "You know if you don't tell us where she is, you're going to get yourself killed?" He asked her casually.

"I'm aware." She stated simply.

Dean raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"And, I'm not stupid. You're going to kill me anyway, I realise that. But if you kill me, you don't find her do you? For now, I'm still breathing."

He shook his head and crossed the room towards her, clenching his teeth in anger. "You either tell me where my sister is right now, or I swear-"

"I am your sister Dean." She cut him off. "I'm the same thing. Exactly the same."

Dean scoffed. "No, you just look like her."

"Oh really?" She smirked and looked between them. "If I just looked like her, how would I know about the time she was nineteen and she got possessed and almost killed your daddy, Dean never told anyone about that, did you? Or how about the time she bailed out on a hunt to go visit Sam at Stanford? Or then there's that one big memory right? Hell."

Sam looked up at Dean, his eyes wide. "How are you doing that?" He asked her slowly.

"They're my memories too. Don't you get it, I don't just look like her, I'm becoming her." Neither of them said anything, both of them staring at her with their eyes wide. "You know, I have all of her memories in here. I can hear every thought she's ever had."

Sam looked down at the floor, knowing there was no way that this conversation was ending well. "She's sure got problems with you two hasn't she? Man, she really is a mess up here. The chick hates herself."

"Just shut up." Dean said blankly.

"She only stayed because of you Dean. This isn't the life she wanted."

"Don't listen to her." Sam said flatly.

"She wanted to bail on this life just like Sammy did, but apparently she thought your ass was too pathetic to leave."

Dean shot her a sarcastic smile. "I'm warning you-"

"She could've done anything. You ruined her life." She smirked up at him. "I mean, my life."

That was it, Dean cracked. He lunged forwards and grabbed her around the neck, glaring into her face. "Where the hell is she?!" He demanded, spitting the words through gritted teeth. She didn't answer, simply glared into his face with a smug grin. As if he suddenly realised what he was doing, he let go of her and turned away, walking out of the room.

Sam followed him and closed the door over, stopping when he found Dean and Castiel leaning against the Impala. "You get that's not her right?" He pressed quietly.

"Sam, the things it knows. That might not be Kate, but it's Kate." He shook his head. "I stay in there with it and I'll end up hitting it. And I can't hit her."

"Well then what? Huh? Dean, she might be hurt." He opened his mouth to say something else but stopped when he actually processed the sight before him. Castiel was sitting on the edge of Dean's car, a bottle of whiskey hanging loosely from his hand.

Dean looked down too, also seeming to suddenly notice what Sam was getting at. "Cas, what are you doing?" He asked, completely unsure as to what was going on.

"I assumed with the amount of it you drink Dean, there must be a reason for it. I thought it was supposed to make situations like this seem easier." He stopped and took a drink. "I was wrong."

Sam looked from Castiel to the bottle of whiskey and back again. "Yeah well, I think you might have the same tolerance level as Dean for that stuff." He muttered. "You can't give up Cas, we're going to find her."

Dean's eyes slowly moved to look at Castiel as he thought the situation over. "You used to be an angel. Can't you just give her a once over or something and find out what that thing in there is? At least if we know what we're dealing with, we'll have a better idea of where she might be."

Castiel frowned and stood from the car, shoving the whiskey bottle into Dean's hand roughly as he passed. Dean looked down at the bottle and took a long drink. "He seem like he's taking this all a bit personal to you?"

"I dunno.." He muttered, leaning against the car beside him and watching Castiel walk towards the motel room. "You heard what it said, he must've come to see her and left her to work the job on her own. Maybe he just feels guilty about it."

Dean took another drink and shook his head. "He's gonna lose it Sam, we need to find her."

"Yeah, I'm starting to feel like I'm headed the same way." Dean nodded and pushed himself up from the car, walking into the motel room and stopping beside Castiel. The three of them stood and stared at the empty chair in the middle of the room for a few seconds. "Crap." Dean muttered, the first one to break the silence.

"Crap? That all you have to say?" Sam asked him. "Dean, that thing was the only lead we had to finding her, and we've just let it escape. I think the term you're looking for is we're screwed."

"Maybe not.." He said slowly, walking further into the room. "I think it's time we went with plan D."

"Plan D?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "Where was I when we went with plans B and C?"

He looked up at him and smirked ."Plan D, for dreamroot."

Sam frowned as he realised what he meant. "Dean, we can't go wandering around in her head."

"Why not?"

"Well for one, she'd murder us."

Dean thought it over and shrugged. "Sammy if that thing knows all that stuff, it's got to be inside her head. She needs our help, and you know, I don't like this any more than you do.. But if you've got a better idea I'm all ears." Sam looked down and shook his head. "That's what I thought. Sam, we're running out of options here man, you know it too."

"Yeah, I know." He sighed. "Alright, let's do it."

* * *

_I know you all hate me for leaving another cliffhanger, I'm sorry! Hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading and for reviewing! :-)  
Anyway, for the next chapter I've been given an idea and it's something that I think the readers could get involved with, it's going to be like one chapter with a lot of little parts to it if you get me? So I thought I'd ask if maybe anyone wanted to know- (I won't tell you what the chapter is about unless you want to know don't worry).  
And if you're interested I'll tell you about the chapter and you could maybe give an idea, and obviously if I tell you and you don't, that's fine too :)) So maybe PM me if you're interested or if not then I hope you enjoy the rest of fic :-))_


	15. Chapter 15

Sam slowly opened his eyes, sitting up from where he lay on the motel bed and glancing over towards where Dean was doing the same on the bed opposite him. He looked around the room, noticing that Castiel was now gone from where he had been standing and the two of them were alone. "Now what?" Dean asked him, pushing himself up to his feet and walking slowly towards the window. Sam ran a hand over his face, letting out a deep breath against the dizziness he felt, and opened his mouth to answer. Before he had a chance to say anything, a bright light shone throughout the room, bright enough that they turned away and had to shield their eyes from it. After a few seconds, Sam opened his eyes finding that he was no longer in the motel room, he was standing in a field somewhere, he guessed a park.

"Sam!" They both turned at the sound of a cheerful voice in the distance behind them. Squinting slightly through the bright sunlight they could see a girl running towards them, her blonde hair blowing behind her in the light breeze. She ran straight through the middle of them and jumped into the arms of the tall guy standing behind them. He caught her with a grin, hugging her tightly.

Dean's eyes were completely wide in shock and confusion as he tried to work out what was going on. "Is that-" He stopped and looked from the two people in front of them to Sam.

"I think we're in her memories." Sam said slowly, scanning his eyes around the place quickly.

Dean frowned at the look on Sam's face, realising that he must recognise whatever memory they were in. He looked back at where a younger version of his brother and sister were still hugging in front of them. "How old is she there? Seventeen? Eighteen?" He asked slowly, looking for any indication from Sam that he knew where they were. "I'm guessing this is what that thing back at the motel was talking about when it said she'd bailed on a hunt to come see you at college?"

Sam sighed, sensing that Dean was obviously upset that he hadn't known about it. "Look, don't get pissed alright? It was my idea for her not to tell you and dad about it-"

"I'm not mad Sammy." He said, allowing a small smile to form on his face as he watched the Sam and Kate from her memories laughing together. He cleared his throat and returned his face to normal as he turned back to look at Sam. "I'm glad she came to see you."

Sam nodded, watching himself and his sister as they turned and walked away from them. Things began to become darker around them, the light fading away quickly until they were standing in complete darkness, the heat from the sun now gone, a sharp and cold wind replacing it. "Dean?" Sam called out, holding his breath when he heard nothing. Before he had a chance to panic, the darkness grew lighter, the temperature now slowly rising again as he once again found himself standing outside, this time on a parking lot outside of a school somewhere.

Dean was standing beside him, his eyes wide and a look of complete bewilderment on his face. "That was weird right?" He said slowly, looking around and frowning to himself. "What the hell's going on?" Sam shook his head, completely clueless, and suddenly nodded towards the other side of the road where Kate was walking towards them, appearing to be looking right through them. Her hair was a lighter blonde, pink and blue streaks going through it, Sam guessed she was around sixteen. "So what, we're watching her memories or something but she can't see us, is that it?"

"Looks like it." Sam said slowly, looking around the street curiously. "Doesn't look like anyone can see us." They both turned at the familiar sound of someone being punched in the face, coming from the dark alleyway not far from where they were standing.

Dean looked to his sister for a reaction, watching her sigh as she obviously debated with herself whether to go and check it out or not. "Don't get involved Kate." She muttered, shaking her head to herself as she followed the sound. Sam and Dean followed her around the corner, looking between each other and smirking as they realised which memory they were in. "I should have known you two would be involved. What the hell are you doing?" Kate asked, raising her eyebrows at the sight in front of her.

A much younger looking Sam had a guy pinned up to a wall, Dean standing right behind him, his arms folded over his chest as he stood and glared right at the guy. He turned to look at her, blood all over his face and clothes, a look of disbelief over his face. "Kate? These guys are with you?" He breathed out, obviously scared.

"Didn't you know that?" Sam smirked, pushing off him and taking a couple of steps back to stand beside Dean. "That's our baby sister you've screwed over, and you think you've got the right to hurt her? To upset her? And you thought you'd get away with it?" He scoffed and shook his head, looking up at Dean expectantly.

Dean took a step forwards and punched him in the face a couple of times before gripping him around the neck and holding him against the wall. "No one messes with my kid sister." He said darkly, glaring at him. "You think you're tough, huh? Screwing with a little girl?"

"Uh, Dean I'm sixteen." Kate cut in lightly, holding her hands up when they both turned and glared at her. "Just saying."

"Killing the vibe Kate." Dean smiled lightly before turning back to him and punching him to the floor, kicking him a few times until he eventually lost consciousness. Kate came up behind Dean and glanced down at the guy, looking over him. "I told you that you didn't need to come down here, I could've handled him."

"Well, there was nothing on tv, we got bored." Dean said lightly, nudging her shoulder with his. "C'mon it's Friday, how about we go see a movie and Sam'll do your homework for you?" She smiled to herself and shook her head, laughing lightly.

As Sam and Dean watched the younger versions of themselves walk away, they smirked at each other. "Man, we are awesome brothers." Dean said to him with a grin.

Sam rolled his eyes and laughed. "Dean, do you even listen to yourself? You just said that you'd beat a guy to hell because there was nothing on tv." His smile faded as things once again became dark and cold around them, taking them to another one of her memories, this time they were standing inside of a hospital room somewhere.

Kate was sitting cross-legged on the bed, her face bruised and one of her arms badly cut. It was only when their dad walked into the room, one of his arms in a sling, that they realised where they were. Sam glanced at his brother, his face was now completely still, his jaw obviously clenched as he held his emotions back.

Their sister looked up at their dad and smiled, obviously still in slight pain. "You remind me so much of your mom Kate." John said to her quietly as he walked further into the room and took a seat on the edge of her bed. "You know she was so excited when we found out you were a girl, kept on telling me all the things you were going to do together. I'm sorry you never got a chance for that, either of you."

Her eyes narrowed slightly as a concerned frown formed on her face. "Dad, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, but I want you to know, I always wanted more for you Kate, I never wanted you to have this life, any of you.. And I know I've made mistakes with all of you, and I should have been around more but.." He trailed off and ran a hand over his face. His voice was soft, a pained look in his eyes. "I mean, Sam was always so against hunting, Dean was always so for it, and you just.. you just got on with it, every time. You never complained, you just put on a smile and carried on. That wasn't fair, and I'm sorry for that. I want you to know, if I could, I'd have done things differently."

"Dad, you did the best you could, I know that." She said softly. "I don't blame you for anything."

He smiled down at her, tears in his eyes. "I'm so proud of you Kate, for everything you've done, you really would've made your mom proud."

"Dad, what's going on?" She reached out and placed a hand over his, staring up at him. "You're freaking me out."

"Everything's okay now sweetheart." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and rested his chin on her head. "You're all going to be alright. You and your brothers, you're all gonna be fine."

"Dad.." She pressed slowly. "What've you done?"

He shook his head and leaned down, kissing her forehead gently. "I love you babygirl."

"Yeah, I love you too, dad." She whispered.

Dean looked away from them, snapping back into reality as he turned to his brother, a heavy feeling of guilt pressing in his chest as he watched their dad say goodbye to his daughter, and knowing that it was because he'd just sold his soul to save him.

Again, the light suddenly faded around them, taking them to her next memory. They were standing outside somewhere on an empty road, their breath showing in front of them in the cold air. Sam glanced around through the darkness, seeing Kate leaning against the back of a car, dried tear tracks on her face and a bottle of whiskey in her hand. She sniffed and wiped away the tears from her face, taking a long drink before turning around to face the guy standing behind her. She cleared her throat and shrugged, an impatient frown on her face. "Look, are you going to do it or not?" Her voice was full of determination, whatever was going on, she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

The guy she was talking to rolled his eyes and gave her a smile. "You Winchester's have no patience, you know that?" He sighed heavily and nodded when she simply glared at him. "How long do you want?"

"I don't care, just-" She stopped and took a breath. "How long are you gonna give me?"

"How about half of what your brother got?" He smirked at her. "And that's still six months more than daddy got."

She sighed deeply and nodded. "Fine." She muttered, taking a step towards him and leaning up, kissing him.

Sam turned away from them, feeling slightly sick as he realised what had happened. "At least it's comforting to know that she put up an argument when she sold her soul." He mumbled to Dean sarcastically, the guilt clear in his words.

Dean chose not to get into one of those conversations again, instead shaking his head to himself and sighing. "This is getting ridiculous, I don't think my brain can take many more of her memories, never mind what it's doing to her head." He muttered, pressing down the panic growing in his chest each time they saw a new memory without finding her.

The next memory they found themselves in, they were in a dull motel room somewhere. John was sitting on the floor, Dean across from him, looking to be around eight, Sam sitting right beside him. John was smiling down at the little girl in his lap, standing her up and grinning widely when she walked the small distance from him and grabbed a hold of Dean. "See that Sammy, she'll be able to walk like you can soon." John said brightly ruffling the hair of his youngest son before catching Kate in his arms again.

Dean smiled to himself as he watched the four of them laughing, remembering one of the happier childhood memories he had when they'd actually acted like a normal family for a day. "Do you remember that?" Sam asked him quietly, seeing the look on his brother's face out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, I remember it, I'm kinda amazed that she does.." He said slowly, his eyes fixed on the small blonde girl in front of them.

Sam shrugged. "Maybe she doesn't, it's probably just in the back of her mind somewhere."

Dean nodded at him, finally looking up at him. "Don't you remember it?" He asked, feeling sorrowful that his brother didn't remember the times that they had actually been a family.

Sam shook his head. "I don't think I do." He sighed as they once again found themselves in another memory, the change between them seemingly quicker and quicker each time it happened. "Where are we?" Sam asked his brother quietly, seeing the colour had now completely drained from his face.

Dean looked around slowly, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach when he realised where they were. "C'mon, you don't need to see this." He said quietly, looking around for anyway of getting out.

Kate lay on the ground, practically sitting in Dean's lap as she clutched to the front of his bloody t-shirt. Her own clothes were also pretty much covered in either dirt or blood, as well as her face and hair. A pained sob escaped her before she managed to turn her gaze to him. "Dean, please.." She managed to choke out. "You need to find dad."

Dean looked up towards the ceiling for a second, tears shining in his eyes. "Dad's fine Kate, he's gonna be here in a sec I promise. Just, try to stay still for me okay?" Sam could tell by the look on Dean's face that he had no idea where their dad was. "You're gonna be fine alright, just try and keep still for me sweetheart." He whispered, pulling her tighter towards him. She shook her head a couple of tears spilling down her cheeks, leaving clear lines where her blood had been. "Don't you dare die Kate, don't you even think about. Just hang on for a few more minutes okay? Please sis."

Sam's stomach physically churned at the sight of his sister like that, but he couldn't bring himself to look away. It was as though as much as he was telling himself that he knew nothing happened to her, that she obviously didn't end up dying, he couldn't look away incase something did. "Dean, what happened?" He pressed softly.

Dean was staring at them with tears in his own eyes. He shook his head and turned his back to them, running a hand down his face and keeping his eyes fixed on the ground in front of him. "That was my fault, she got hurt like that because of me." He said slowly. "Out of everything.. every single memory of me, from every single hunt we ever went on.. this is the one that I wish I could take back the most."

"Dean.." He began, but Dean shook his head and carried on.

"I had to hold my sister like that, thinking that she was about to die.. and it was because of me. She almost didn't make it Sam."

"Dean-" He tried again, not getting any further before Dean cut him off.

"Forget it." He muttered, sighing heavily when he realised they were in another memory.

They were standing in a hallway of a house somewhere, it looked fairly normal. Dean looked around casually, not recognising anything around him. He was about to make some lame joke about the wallpaper when he turned to look at Sam, the playful smirk falling from his face when he saw the look of complete horror set on Sam's chalk-white face. Before he even had a chance to open his mouth and ask where they were, the front door to the house opened beside them. Sam walked through it first, his shirt was bloody and there were dried tear tracks down his utterly distraught looking face. It was only when Bobby walked into the house behind Sam that Dean noticed the shirt Sam was wearing, he frowned to himself and looked around the surroundings slowly as he realised where they were. His eyes moved to the clock on the wall beside them. 12:34AM.

Seeing that Sam still hadn't found the strength to move from where he'd been standing fixed on the spot for the last couple of minutes, Dean slowly walked into the next room where the other Sam and Bobby had just gone to. The two of them were talking in hushed voices towards the side of the room, both looking down cautiously. Dean knew what they were looking at before he'd even turned around. He looked around slowly to see himself lying on the floor, covered in blood and lying completely still. Kate was sitting beside him, one hand rested lightly on his face as she absent-mindedly traced her thumb over his cheek, and the other holding his hand tightly.

Dean didn't really know what to say, his brother was still standing outside of the room but he knew that one of them was going to have to watch this before they could move on. He looked up as the Sam from her memories hesitantly took a step towards her and crouched down behind her, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. "Kate.." He pressed gently. "Come on sis.."

A choked sob escaped her as she shook her head. "No." She whispered.

Tears filled Sam's eyes as he reached out and took a hold of her around the tops of her arms, pulling her back from Dean's body. Dean jumped a little as she seemed to find her voice, screaming and fighting Sam off the best that she could, shaking her head and never taking her eyes from Dean's body until she suddenly turned herself in Sam's arms. Her face hit his chest as she cried harder than he had ever heard her cry before.

He honestly couldn't feel grateful enough when he felt that they were moving on to the next one, hating to see his brother and sister in a state like that. Their surroundings became more clear as they found themselves standing in the middle of another motel room, Kate sitting at the small table towards the side of the room reading over some police files. She jumped up and grabbed her gun at the obviously still unfamiliar sound of Castiel's wings as he appeared beside the table. She kept the gun pointed at him, an unsteady look on her face, looking as though she was debating between putting it down and shooting him anyway. "I assure you, I'm no threat towards you." He said flatly, his blue eyes flicking from her face to the gun. "And even if I was, that would do nothing against me."

She sighed and placed the gun back on the table, sitting down and raising an eyebrow at him. "What d'ya want then?" She asked, her voice giving away that she was obviously tired.

"Where are your brothers?" He asked, ignoring her question and taking a seat in the chair opposite hers, frowning over the papers on the table.

"Uh, Sam's gone off to do some research at the library and I think Dean went to a bar somewhere, I dunno.."

He nodded slowly, returning his gaze to her. "I was wondering, what are they like?"

Kate looked up at him, a confused frown on her face. "Who? Sam and Dean?" Castiel nodded at her, watching her smile to herself as she thought of an answer. "Uh, well.. Dean's pretty much an overprotective jerk who likes to screw with me for his own amusement." She said lightly, shaking her head to herself before looking up at him seriously. "But I know that I'd only have to ask and he'd do anything for me and Sam, no matter what, he'd drop everything to help us if we needed him. He's loyal, keeps his promises like that.. and he's got so much courage, I sometimes wonder how he does it.. especially now, I mean, he's just hopped out of hell and he's still holding it together." Castiel nodded at her. "And Sam, he's a nerd and he can be such a dork sometimes, and I know your angel buddies think he's some kind of bad guy right now, but you've only met him once yourself Cas, you should give him a chance.. He has such a big heart and he's so compassionate and caring. He'd never hurt anyone that didn't deserve it, in fact he'd do anything for anyone. The amount of times he's put himself into danger because he's thought me and Dean were in trouble, he wouldn't think twice about it.. And he's selfless, tries to see the best in everyone, ya know? I know better than most people, yeah they can come across as jerks sometimes, especially if they don't completely trust you, but once you get to know them they really are great guys."

"You admire them." Castiel stated simply.

"Well yeah, of course I do. I mean, I sometimes wish that I could be more like them, ya know.. Have Dean's strength and dependability, or Sam's intelligence and empathy. They're good people Cas. I just wish your little crew upstairs got that." She sighed and gave a slight laugh. "Oh, and if you ever tell them I said any of this, you're dead."

"You really think that's how she sees us?" Sam said quietly, a smile playing on his lips.

Dean shrugged, smiling to himself slightly. "Guess she doesn't think we're as lame as she makes out." His laugh faded as they found themselves somewhere else. He sighed heavily as he realised they were standing outside of a motel room. "How much longer do you think we're gonna have to do this? We're not getting anywhere here." Dean said, his voice letting on that he was obviously becoming more and more worried.

Sam shrugged and pushed open the motel room door they were now standing outside, walking into a motel room. He thought for a second that the dream root had worn off and Castiel had woken them up, until he saw Kate walk out of the bathroom. She threw a t-shirt into her bag as she dialed a number on her phone and held it to her ear. "Hey, it's me." She said after a few seconds. "So I finished the hunt and I'm heading back soon, should be there by tonight." She said as she picked up a pair of jeans and tossed them over her shoulder to her bag. "Sure." She said lightly, smiling to herself as she hung up the phone and placed it into her back pocket. She picked up a couple more shirts from the floor before shoving them into her bag and heading out of the door.

"That was when she called me, saying she'd finished the hunt." Sam said quietly, glancing up at Dean with a confused frown. "So whatever happens next is what went wrong."

They both looked up as she walked back into the room, she pulled on her jacket and turned to the door, stopping suddenly and looking around. "Something's wrong." Dean said slowly, seeing the look on her face. "Seriously, how is this helping Sam?"

"Dean-" Sam stopped as she fell to her knees in front of him, clutching at her throat and gasping for air. Dean went to take a step forward to her but Sam grabbed his arm to stop him. "You can't do anything Dean. It's just a memory." He glanced down at her as she choked out Castiel's names, suddenly understand why the angel had felt so guilty about not getting there straight away. They looked up as another Kate walked into the room, crouching beside her and smirking down at her before Kate finally lost consciousness and everything went black.

As the lights came on again, they were still standing in the same place. Sam looked over at Dean who looked as confused as he did. "What the hell's going on?" Dean said, looking around the room.

"Guys?" A soft voice said from behind them.

They whirled around to see Kate standing behind them, her face a mixture of fear, relief and confusion. "Wait, can you see us?" Sam asked her, his voice desperate for her to say yes.

She frowned slightly and nodded. "Of course I can see you. Are you high or something?"

He sighed in relief, glancing over his shoulder at Dean who simply shrugged at him. "What the hell is going on here?"

"I don't know." She answered slowly, looking between them curiously. "Where are we?"

"We're in your head." Dean answered, walking further into the room and eyeing her suspiciously. "What are doing here?"

Kate raised an eyebrow at him. "You mean, what am I doing in my own head?"

"You know what I mean." He said impatiently.

"I don't know Dean." She shrugged and took a seat on the edge of the bed. "I don't know what the hell's going on, but I can't leave."

He looked at her like she was crazy. "You what?"

"I don't know why, but I can't leave this room."

"Alright, what's the last thing you remember before you ended up in here?"

"Uh, I was hunting some ghouls.." She began slowly, frowning as she tried to think back. "And then I came back to the room to get my stuff.. And-" She stopped, frowning harder.

"Kate, what happened?" Sam pressed softly, a frown forming on his face.

"There was something there. I don't know what it was but there was something in that room with me. Then I woke up here." She thought about it for a couple of minutes before something dawned on her. "Hold up a sec, what the hell are you doing in my head?"

"Well, you didn't come back so-"

"So you thought you'd just poke around in my head. 'Cause that's not creepy or anything."

"No one's poking around, alright?" Dean cut in. "Kate, you've been missing for days, no one knows where you are. We thought you would but apparently you seem to know know less that any of us."

"Great." She muttered. "So now what?"

"Now, we go back."

Both her and Sam's heads snapped up to look at him. "You can't just leave her in here Dean, we need to get her back with us."

"Sammy, this isn't Kate. This is her mind, we can't take her back unless we know what happened to her physically." Sam thought it over for a few seconds before realising he was right and nodding. Dean turned to Kate, a sympathetic frown on his face. "Alright, I need you to believe me when I tell you, we're going to get you out of here. We'll find out where whatever that thing is took you, and we'll wake you up. I promise, you just need to sit tight."

"Sure." She said quietly, nodding and managing a shaky smile.

Dean closed his eyes and sighed. "Alright Cas, bring us back."

_HEY! So I hoped you liked this chapter, I've spent so much time on it this week trying to make it good enough for you guys. Most of the people who asked for stuff mentioned John, which is why he was in the chapter quite a bit.  
I wanna say a massive thank you to, __jayarecee, sweetkiwi604, BlueEyesBurning, lisab2012, Lauren and Jessie__ for giving ideas for this chapter and to everyone else for reading and reviewing! :-)  
I really loved talking to you and hearing your ideas, because this is your story too, you take the time to read it every week and that only encourages me to write. It was great to get to know some of you a little better and incase you ever want to give another idea for anything to happen in the future, or even for a oneshot or something, I'd always love to talk to you! _


	16. Chapter 16

Sam released a deep breath as he tried to take in his surroundings, pushing himself up from the crappy motel mattress and looking slowly around the dim motel room, realising that they were finally back in their own bodies. "Did you find anything?" Castiel's voice sounded from somewhere in the room. Sam blinked hard and refocused his vision, opening his mouth to give an answer but stopping when he heard that Dean had found his voice first.

"She's in her head." Dean began slowly, stopping and trying to think of a way to explain it that would make sense to the angel. "She's inside her own head but.. she's kinda stuck there.." He trailed off and shrugged in defeat, not knowing what else to tell him. "Please tell me that means something to you, Cas." He muttered, now sitting on the edge of the bed with his face rested in his palms.

Castiel narrowed his eyes at him, tilting his head to the side for a second before nodding slowly. "Wait here." Before either of them had a chance to answer him, he was gone from the motel room, leaving Sam and Dean alone.

Dean shook his head and pushed himself to his feet, running a hand down his tired face and letting out a deep breath as he thought back to everything they had seen in Kate's head. He turned around to look at Sam, his face giving away that he was thinking the same. "Trippy right?" He mumbled, picking up a bottle of whiskey from the table and taking a drink. "Being inside her head like that."

"Yeah, you can say that again." Sam answered quietly, resting a hand against his warm forehead as he attempted to shove down the memories that had come flooding back to him since they had been in her memories.

They both glanced over to the other side of the room as Castiel appeared again, his face now holding a look of complete seriousness. "I know where your sister is." He stated simply, looking between them for a reaction.

Dean scoffed and took another drink, apparently not sensing the urgency in his voice the way Sam had. "Yeah Cas, so do we, and that's the problem." He answered flatly, not even bothering to look at him. "What's your point?"

"No, that's just her mind." Both brothers turned to properly face him now, Dean placing the bottle back to the table. "I mean, I know where her body is."

"Where?" They both asked at the same time. Castiel didn't answer them, he simply reached out and touched both of them on the forehead, taking them to a hospital somewhere.

Sam's chest sank the second they'd appeared in the quiet hallway, turning slowly to face him and frowning. "Cas, what's going on?" He asked quietly, the concern rising in his chest as his mind automatically jumped to all of the worst possible scenarios. The only times that Kate ever wound up in a hospital were when things got serious. And when it came to Kate, serious often meant death's door.

"She's in there." Castiel said, his voice low and sympathetic as he nodded in the direction of one of the closed doors.

Sam shot a glance at Dean who nodded at him as he reached out for the handle, taking a breath before pushing open the door and walking inside slowly. Castiel followed Sam ahead of Dean, who pushed the door closed behind himself and shook his head. Kate was lying in the hospital bed sleeping, seemingly peacefully. She looked fine to him, there were no visible cuts anywhere that hadn't already been there and there was no sign that anything bad had happened to her. If he hadn't known better, he would've said that she was just sleeping. "What happened to her?" Dean managed to force out, his voice biting back the hint of fear.

Sam walked around to the bottom of the bed, picking up the chart. "Tyler Smith." He read out loud, glancing up at Dean and shrugging. "That's a new one.. Guess that means she didn't admit herself here."

Dean nodded, he knew that if she had been asked for a name, she would've picked something they'd be able to find when they'd check the hospitals to see if she'd been admitted. "Someone didn't want her to be found." He said slowly, looking her up and down carefully.

Sam was about to answer him when the door to the room swung open, a tall man in a white coat walking inside, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw them. He looked between the two of them, Castiel having disappeared, and narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" He asked, a slight hint of accusation in his tone.

"Uh, we're her brothers." Sam answered slowly, looking over at Dean who nodded at him, flashing a small smile towards the doctor.

He looked them up and down suspiciously with a frown before his face eventually grew softer. "You should probably come with me." He said quietly, leading the way to the reception area where he handed Dean a few forms to fill out.

"What's wrong with her?" Sam asked, honestly getting tired of how many times he'd had to ask that in the past few hours without getting an answer.

"Your sister was brought in a few days ago." He began, his tone giving away that whatever followed wasn't going to be good news. "I'm very sorry to have to tell you this but, she's in a coma."

Sam's eyes went wide, his jaw dropping slightly as he stared straight ahead at the doctor, completely lost for words. Dean had dropped the pen he'd been writing with to the floor, carelessly leaving the forms on the chair as he stood up beside Sam, the shock clear on his face. "What's happened to her?" He managed to ask, the only one of the many questions that his brain managed to form into words.

"We've done tests but nothing seems to be wrong with her. And since we can't see what's causing it, we can't say when she's going to wake up." He paused and offered them a sad look. "Or if she's going to wake up." Dean turned his back on him, shaking his head to himself and running a hand down his face, refusing to believe what he'd just been told. He didn't know what he'd been expecting to hear, but it sure as hell hadn't been that. "I'll give you some time." He heard the doctor say, he assumed more to Sam than him, followed by the sound of him turning and walking away.

"Dean." Sam pressed, his voice quiet. "C'mon, we need to find Cas."

He nodded and turned to follow Sam back to the room, closing the door behind himself with a little more force than was needed. "Cas, get back here." He said impatiently, opening his eyes to see Castiel standing in front of him. "Please tell me you've got something?" He asked, his question coming out as more of a beg than a request. "You know what it is?"

Castiel nodded reassuringly. "I don't know much, but it's some kind of creature, it takes over a person's identity while that person's life effectively drains away from them. Hense, your sister's comatose state."

Dean looked down at her, shaking his head. "So you're telling me, that thing back at the motel was basically running some kind of hooker shack while it shoved her into a hospital and downloaded her mind?" His voice was turning angrier with every word.

He frowned as he thought Dean's explanation over for a few seconds, eventually nodding. "Yes."

"That's why all her memories were floating around in her head, that's how it knew the stuff it did." Sam said slowly. "It's taking her mind."

"And it's still doing it? So, what happens when it's done?" Castiel looked from Dean to Kate and then to the floor. "Cas?" He pressed.

"She'll die." He answered quietly.

Dean took a breath and nodded. "Okay.." He said calmly. "How do we kill it?"

"Well, it's not that different from a human, so shoot it, stab it.. either should work."

"Alright c'mon, we'll split up and find the bitch." Dean said, his voice hard. "She is not dying."

Both Sam and Castiel nodded at him, following him towards the door and leaving the hospital. Dean took off in the Impala, Castiel disappeared while Sam set off walking. He sighed to himself as he thought about where the best place to look for his sister's shady twin would be, almost laughing about how stupid that statement sounded to him. He turned a random corner, finding himself back on the road where Kate's car was parked. Walking towards it, he took another look at the closed bar in front of it. It looked like a shady place, somewhere he could see his sister hanging around on a bad day. Finding that the door at the front was locked, he made his way around the back, finding the door was open a crack. Sighing to himself, he gripped the handle of his gun and pushed open the door, walking inside the dim room. As he got further into the room, he saw her standing with her back to him, looking into the mirror in front of her. Seeing his reflection behind her, she turned quickly to face him, her face falling as her eyes fell to the gun. "C'mon, you're not really gonna shoot me are you?" She flashed him a smile in an attempt to cover the nervous look on her face, a slight hint of hope remaining in her voice.

"What do you think?" Sam said blankly, raising the gun to her.

She remained calm and took a couple of steps towards him, her eyes never leaving the gun. "You wouldn't really shoot your own sister would you?" Her eyes moved to his, a smile forming on her face at the conflicted look on his.

"You're not my sister." He said coldly, clenching his jaw as he pulled the trigger twice, shooting her straight in the chest. She stumbled backwards a couple of steps before dropping to her knees, her eyes fixed on him until she fell back and went still, her blood pooling around her. Sam sighed and looked down at the body, shaking his head to himself, whether it was her or not, the sight of his sister dead on the floor still disturbed him. He turned away from her and pulled out his phone, calling Dean's number.

"Yeah?" Dean answered the phone impatiently, the frustration clear in his tone.

_"She's dead."_ Sam's voice said simply_. "Call Cas and I'll meet you both back at the hospital, she should wake up now_."

"Sure." Dean's tone softened, realising that Sam had just had to stand and kill an exact copy of their sister, something that he knew he'd struggle with himself. "I'll see you there then." He finished, hanging up the phone and turning the car around, heading back to the hospital.

_So guess who's coming back next chapter! Thank you so much for the PM's, the reviews, the favorites and alerts, and for reading! Hope you're still enjoying it! :)_


	17. Chapter 17

Kate slowly blinked open her heavy eyes, the bright sunlight coming through the window blurring her vision slightly. Taking a few seconds to try and work out what had happened, or where she was, she became more aware of her surroundings. Frowning in confusion, she pushed herself into a sitting position from the bed she was lying in, slowly glancing around the empty room as she tried to think back to why she would be in a hospital. It wasn't like it was an unfamiliar thing for her to wake up in a hospital with no clue how she'd gotten there, she'd accepted it as a part of the job, but this was the first time it had happened without one of her brothers being there to explain it to her. Her mind jumping to the worst case scenarios, she tugged the IV drip from her arm and carelessly tossed it aside before swinging her legs over the side of the bed and standing up. Her eyes fell to where her clothes were lying on the chair to the side of the room, her phone still inside the pocket of her jacket. She pulled it out and went to turn it on, sighing when she found that it was out of battery. "Perfect." She muttered to herself, tossing it back to the chair before beginning to change. Once she was dressed, she quickly made her way over to the door, suddenly realising that she had no idea where she was, why she was there, how long she'd been there or where her brothers were. As she pulled open the door, she almost walked straight into Castiel's chest. "Cas?" She breathed out a sigh of relief at seeing someone she knew. "What-" He cut her off as he threw his arms around her tightly, not giving her a chance to finish.

She stood in complete shock for a few seconds before she slowly brought up her arms and hugged him back. "Are you alright?" He asked quickly, the concern clear in his usually calm voice.

"Yeah." She pulled away and looked up at him, utterly clueless as to what was going on. "Of course I'm alright. What-"

"Kate, I'm so sorry." He cut her off again, his voice now turning serious. "I shouldn't have left you alone. And when you called me for help, I should've gotten there quicker-"

"Cas, it's fine." She said softly. "Seriously, I'm alright."

Castiel opened his mouth to answer her but stopped at the sound of the double doors at the end of the hallway banging open, both of them turning to see Sam almost jogging towards them, a smile spreading over his face. "It's nice to see you conscious." Kate took the last couple of steps towards him, laughing as he firmly wrapped his arms around her, lifting off her feet as he hugged her. "Man, it's not been the same without ya sis." He said lightly, pulling back and keeping his hands gripped on her upper arms as he looked over her.

"I'll bet." She smirked. "Sammy, what's going on?"

He laughed at the utterly confused look on her face and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked past Sam's shoulder as Dean walked quickly through the doors.

"Sammy?" Sam turned from Kate to face him, smirking as Dean's face broke into a grin when he saw her. "You decided to get your lazy ass up then I see?" He said to her lightly, walking towards her and pulling her into a stong hug.

"Well it's nice to know you've missed me." She mumbled into his shoulder, patting him on the back in an attempt to let him know that she couldn't breathe.

He laughed to himself and let her go, looking over her carefully. "You're alright though?" He asked her seriously.

"Oh yeah Dean, I'm awesome, for the millionth time." She shook her head and smiled. "Will one of you please tell me why I'm in here?"

Dean looked up at Sam and raised an eyebrow. "What's the last thing you remember?" Sam asked her curiously.

"Uh, I was at the motel and then.." She trailed off and shook her head. "I dunno.. I think I blacked out or something.. what happened?"

"C'mon." Sam swung and arm around her shoulders and began leading the way to the doors. "We'll fill you in on the way back to the motel."

The three of them arrived back at the motel room about half an hour later, Sam heading off to pick up some food. Kate walked into the motel room first, closely followed by Dean who closed the door behind himself, dropping down onto one of the beds with a long sigh. His eyes followed Kate as she passed him, casually picking up one of the shirts lying on the bed and pulling her face to herself. "You let that thing go out in this?" She turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "That's just tacky."

Dean laughed at her, shaking his head. "It's nice to have you back."

"The people in this town must think I'm some kind of whore." She smirked and tossed the shirt across the room before sitting down on the opposite bed and looking up at him. "Hey, I'm sorry about all this crap Dean. I should've just stayed with you in the first place."

"No, you were right. You're old enough to be trusted to take a hunt by yourself. I mean, you don't need me babysitting you all the time. It's stupid that I let myself believe that you do." He sighed and shook his head to himself. "You did good Kate, that is until your psychotic double tried to kill you of course."

Kate laughed slightly. "Thanks Dean."

"I'm serious Kate, I don't give you enough credit for what you actually do. You're twenty-four now, not fourteen. Sometimes I forget that."

She looked up at him and frowned slightly. "You sure you haven't been cloned? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, you just.. you're just a pain in the ass."

She rolled her eyes and moved to sit on the bed beside him, resting her chin on his shoulder lightly. "Yeah, you too bro." She said quietly.

They sat there for a couple of minutes, neither of them saying anything, before Dean pushed himself up and pulled off his jacket. "I'm gonna have a shower, you sure you're okay?"

Kate nodded and smiled at him. "I'm fine." She said as he turned and headed towards the bathroom. She lay down on the bed and let out a deep breath, closing her eyes in an attempt to ignore her pounding headache. She ran a hand down her face as some of her worse memories came back to her, things she would rather not think about. She didn't remember what had happened, she only knew what her brothers had told her, but whatever had happened had brought back a bunch of memories that she could really live without.

Sam walked into the motel room about ten minutes later. He looked over at where Kate lay on the bed, her back to him, and closed the door softly, unsure if she was awake or not. She didn't move as he quietly placed the food bag down on the table and made his way around the bed, glancing down at her and realising that she was awake. "Seriously, how can you be tired?" He asked lightly, his smile fading as he noticed the look on her face. She was staring straight ahead with unshed tears in her eyes. "Kate?" He pressed gently, taking a seat on the edge of her bed and looking down at her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Kate rolled onto her back and looked up at him, running a hand down her face. "I just.. It's like since whatever that thing did to my head, I can remember everything. Stuff I haven't thought about in years. And then the stuff I did anything I could to forget about, it's all in my head. It's just hard to switch off."

He nodded and managed a sympathetic smile. "Same as most days then right?"

She smiled to herself and looked up at him. "Hey, you know when you said you'd seen stuff in my head, you meant my memories right?"

"Yeah, it was like we were there, in the places they happened, and no one could see us but.. we watched them."

"Nothing incriminating I hope." She said lightly, sitting up to look at him properly.

"Actually there was one of them that I wanted to ask you about." Kate looked up at him and nodded, realising he wasn't sure she wanted to talk about this. "You looked about eighteen, you got hurt.. And you were with Dean."

Kate looked down and nodded. "Yeah, Minnesota. I remember."

"What happened?"

"Uh, we took a hunt, dad told us to stick together while he went to find the thing, Dean said split up.. He ended up getting himself knocked out, I was on my own and got stabbed.." She shook her head. "It was all just a mistake. But Dean never let it go.. I mean, he barely looked me or dad in the face for about two weeks, you know how he gets.." Sam nodded slowly, his eyes fixed on her. "So what else did you see?" She pressed, now realising how much she had in her head that she didn't want them to know about.

Sam thought back, frowning slightly as he wondered whether or not to tell her about everything they'd seen. "We saw Dean go to hell.. And then when you sold your soul." She looked down from him, noting the disapproving tone when he'd mentioned that one. "And then you remember the time we kicked that guy's ass outside school?"

She let out a laugh and nodded. "Yeah, I remember that.. There was nothing on tv or something right?" She said lightly, smiling to herself as she thought back.

"Right.. So what else are you thinking about?" He pressed softly. "Hell?"

"That.. and other stuff." She shrugged. "I'll be fine. I mean, I got over it once, I can get over it again right?"

"Yeah, course you will." He said quietly, giving her a reassuring squeeze on the knee and smiling at her.

They both looked up as Dean walked out of the bathroom, looking between them curiously and giving them a small smile before pulling a burger from the bag on the table and dropping into a chair. "So what now?" He asked around a mouthful of food. "We looking for a hunt or what?"

Sam looked from him to Kate, unsure of whether she was up to a hunt or not. "Yeah." She said lightly, standing from the bed and picking up her bag. "Sooner we're out of this town the better." She smiled slightly before turning towards the bathroom and closing the door behind herself.

Dean looked to Sam as he heard the shower turn on. "She alright?" He asked quietly, a concerned frown forming on his face.

"Yeah, she's fine. Just a lot to take in at once I guess." He muttered, sitting down with him at the table and pulling his laptop from his bag. "Give her a couple of days, she'll be okay."

"Yeah, I know she will." He said quietly.

Kate came out of the bathroom about fifteen minutes later, sighing heavily as she took a seat at the table with them. "You found a hunt yet?" She asked Sam brightly.

"Yeah actually, you can take your pick.. We've got a werewolf in Idaho, looks like a Topah in Wyoming, maybe a djinn in Colorado or another ghoul thing in Nevada."

"No ghouls." Dean cut him off. "Didn't end great the last time did it?" He said sarcastically, shooting a smirk at Kate.

"That wasn't anything to do with the ghouls." Kate cut in, lightly kicking him in the leg. "I handled the ghouls fine."

Sam rolled his eyes at them and closed his laptop. "Whatever." He smirked. "I'll let you two decide between yourselves, I'm gonna take a shower."

"Sure." They both answered at the same time, smiling at him as he closed the door behind himself.

_Aw so we're finally back to normal ;-) Thank you so much for reading and for reviewing, the support means everything! :-) _


	18. Chapter 18

Hi, my name's Lauren, I'm a friend of the author. I wasn't sure on where to post this because I'm not all that sure of how the site works but I felt that I should let you know that there probably won't be an update for a while as she is in hospital. I wanted to let you know because I know that my friend is always truly grateful of the support you give her and I know she wouldn't want you to think that she had just given up or couldn't be bothered or anything like that. Hopefully she will wake up and be back home and writing soon, so please bare with us and thank you for understanding.


	19. Chapter 19

_I'm back! So first of all let me apologise for being gone for so long, and second, thank you so much for the reviews and PMs that I've had while I was gone, you guys are all so lovely, they made my day when Lauren told me about them. I should probably explain the reason I was MIA for almost a month-my friend and I got into a car accident which totally sucked. Everyone involved ended up being okay and we're all completely back to normal now. I've also got some good news and bad news. The good news is that while I've been gone I've kinda had the idea for a new story, like a new sister, new character, new plot which is pretty cool. The bad news is that I haven't had much time to write and so I apologise in advance if it takes longer than a week for an update, I will try my best to get something out for you though! Also, I apologise because I know this chapter isn't the best but I hate leaving it so long without an update. Seriously though, thank you so, so much for the thoughts and prayers, the messages were all lovely and I honestly couldn't ask for better readers! Thank you for being patient with me and for sticking with it, I love and appreciate all of you for every favorite/follow/review/PM and just for reading it. You're all amazing! :)_

* * *

Dean crossed the quiet street, heading towards the motel he, Sam and Kate were staying in. A smirk washed over his face as his eyes fell to where Kate was standing at the trunk of the Impala, looking as though she was sorting through their weapons, her back to him. He took a few steps towards her and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her back slightly and growling in her ear. Kate jumped, her hunter instincts taking over as she elbowed him hard in the chest and span around quickly to punch him in the face. She froze as she pulled back her fist, realising that it was him. He held the back of his hand up to his lip for a second and pulled it back, raising his eyebrows when he saw the blood there, returning his gaze to Kate. "Ouch." He stated simply, his face a mixture of shock and slight confusion.

"Don't you know it's dangerous to sneak up on people when they're dealing with loaded weapons, moron?" Kate shook her head and smacked the side of his arm, holding her finger and thumb a centimeter apart before holding them in front of his face. "This close to death there, Dean, this close." She said seriously, turning her back to him and closing the trunk of the car as her mouth twisted into a smirk at the utterly speechless look on his face. "You deserved that, for being such a jackass." She muttered when he remained silent, staring at her.

He blinked hard, not moving from where he stood in front of her. "You've just bust my lip." He said slowly, like he was still trying to process the information into his own head.

"Well, serves you right for sneaking up on people, doesn't it?" She said defensively, shoving her hands into her pockets and looking down at the floor to try and hide the completely amused look that she knew was showing on her face. "I've told you before about that, I have cat-like reflexes."

"Yeah," He agreed sarcastically. "-I can see that." Kate rolled her eyes at him and pushed herself up from where she was leaning against the edge of the Impala, turning her back to him and heading over the parking lot back to the motel room.

Sam glanced up at them as they entered the room, taking one look at Dean's bloody lip and raising an eyebrow. "What the hell happened to you?" He asked curiously, looking away from his laptop and scanning the two of them for any other injuries.

Kate laughed to herself as she crossed the room, picking up a magazine from one of the beds before dropping into the empty chair beside Sam's at the table and opening it at a random page. "That thing over there smacked me." Dean said lightly, nodding over at Kate, his tone giving away that he wasn't angry and that they weren't actually in a fight.

Sam looked over at her and raised an eyebrow, now more confused than ever. "Seriously?" He asked her.

She shook her head at him and gave one of her, what Dean liked to call, 'it was all Dean's fault' looks. Dean simply rolled his eyes and pulled off his jacket. "Ignore her," He continued. "-she's having one of her freakish, hormonal, let's all bitch at Dean days."

"Oh, another one?" Sam laughed to himself and turned to look at her. "Jeez Kate, they're getting more and more often now aren't they?"

"Yeah, I mean, I don't know what's wrong with me." She said seriously. "Maybe I need to see someone about it."

"Alright, I get it." Dean muttered, smiling slightly and dropping down into the empty chair between theirs. "So, you find out anything good this morning?" He asked, turning his attention to Sam. They had been in town for two days, looking for what they were assuming was a werewolf. Sam had spent the morning at the coroners checking out the bodies, Dean talking to one of the victim's families, and Kate sorting the weapons in the trunk of the car after loosing a bet to Dean.

"Uh, yeah, actually," Sam began, closing his laptop and sitting up straighter. "-looks like we were right, definitely a werewolf attack. Hearts were missing from both the bodies as well as claw and bite marks in the skin, coroner said it looks like they were in an animal attack-"

"Oh, so they looked kinda like I do when Kate's PMSing then, huh?" Dean cut in lightly.

"That's hilarious, Dean, really, well done." She replied flatly. "I'm almost laughing."

Sam rolled his eyes at them and carried on. "Anyway, they're thinking that it was some kind of wolf."

Kate nodded slowly, putting down the magazine. "On the bright side, at least we already know how to kill them." She said cheerily. "Pity that we can't just do the same with Dean."

"You know, for a chick who claims that she loves her big brother, you put on a spectacular act of hatred." He joked. "Your acting astounds me."

"I don't love you, Dean. I tolerate your existence." She muttered. "There's a huge difference there."

"Ah, but you do hate me marginally less than you hate the rest of the human race." He smirked, punching her in the arm lightly.

"The key word there being marginally." She countered. "And besides, I don't hate the entire human race, I mean, I like Sam."

Sam laughed, shaking his head. "Gee, thanks." He muttered.

"Own it." Kate winked at him and nodded before turning her attention back to Dean. "Anyway, genius, what did you find out?"

"Well," He began, a cocky smirk spreading over his face. "-because I'm good, and I mean really good, I'm like ninety-five percent sure that I know who our wolfboy is."

"Ninety-five?" Kate sighed lightly. "That means we're on a stake out tonight, right? Awesome."

"Oh pretend like you don't love it." Dean said. "Besides, we're not going anywhere until I've checked my car, if the trunk isn't in perfect order you're walking everywhere for the rest of your life."

"Yeah, whatever." She muttered. "So, where does this guy hang out?"

Six hours later, they found themselves sitting at a table in the back of a bar, still watching the same guy. "This guy is so boring, I swear to god-" Dean said with a sigh. He'd been sitting in the same seat alone for the past three hours, barely talking to anyone other than the bartender when he asked for another drink.

"Hey, at least if he's in here being boring he's not outside eating hearts, right?" Sam said lightly, taking a drink of his beer.

They all looked up as the guy suddenly got to his feet and made his way to the door, leaving the bar. "You were saying?" Kate muttered.

Sam shook his head. "C'mon, let's go."

They left the bar and walked out onto the empty parking lot, looking around and not seeing anyone. "Where'd he go?" Dean muttered, looking around and pulling out his gun. "Alright, new plan, let's split up. I'll head that way, Sam go back around past the bar and Kate you go that way." He muttered, pointing in different directions as he spoke. They both nodded at him before turning and walking away.

Kate pulled her gun from the back of her jeans and walked in the direction Dean had sent her, looking around the quiet streets slowly. She walked for about ten minutes before she saw Sam heading down the street towards her. "You find anything?" She asked as he got closer.

"Nah, you?" Kate shook her head and sighed. "Maybe he got wise to us and bailed? Where's Dean?" Before either of them had a chance to say anything else, they heard the sound of gunshots, both turning and sprinting in the direction that Dean had gone. They rounded the corner to see Dean standing over a dead body, a small cut above his eyebrow bleeding slightly and looking out of breath. "You alright?" Sam said to him, looking between him and the body slowly.

"Uh-huh." He wiped the blood from his eyebrow and nodded. "I'm good. Let's get the hell out of here."

"Yeah, smart idea." Sam muttered

They arrived back at the motel room about fifteen minutes later, Kate dropping onto one of the beds while Sam on the other one and Dean at the table. "I think, we should go see a movie." He said slowly.

Sam and Kate looked from Dean to each other before looking back to him, both of them raising their eyebrows at him . "You what?" Sam pressed, not sure he'd heard him right.

"Yeah, why not?" He shrugged. "We used to go all the time, we've not seen one for ages."

Sam smiled slightly and nodded. "Sure, I'm in." He said lightly. "Kate?"

Kate grinned. "Sure."


End file.
